Super Koopalings Episode 1: Celia's Dad
by StarlitDuck
Summary: One day, Roy meets Celia, a human koopa hybrid who claims that Bowser is her father. I plan on making a series based on this, so I would love to hear your thoughts.
1. Chapter 1 The Hooded Figure

Part One

Chapter 1 The Hooded Figure

It was a beautiful day in the Koopa Kingdom. To some, that statement may be a little hard to believe. The Koopa Kingdom is located within a valley, and that valley is notorious for containing at least eighteen active volcanoes. Because of this, it is difficult for people to imagine this realm having a day where the sky isn't overloaded with sulfurous gases and ominous black clouds. But this day was one of the most gorgeous days not just in the Koopa Kingdom, but in all of the Mushroom World.

This day, where sunbeams were streaming down and drenching people in a heavenly light, was the day that Roy Koopa had decided to take a walk around a quaint little town. Roy was especially enjoying the walk because it was a real stress reliever. With six biological siblings and one adopted sibling, life at home could get pretty chaotic. He had no idea how Bowser was able to handle running a kingdom and raising a gaggle of children all at the same time. He could kind of see why he took a vacation to the Beanbean Kingdom recently.

Anyway, Roy was taking a stroll through a small town. He was starting to feel a little hungry when he noticed a duo of female koopas sitting on a bench. At the sight of them, Roy let out a whistle.

"Whoa ho ho, hello there," he said to himself. Turning to the side, he noticed his reflection in a store window. He admired himself for a brief second, then licked his hand. Grinning devilishly to himself, he took his hand and rubbed it over his bald, pink head. With his head now glistening like a star, he waltzed over to the conversing women.

"Hello there ladies," he said casually.

The two women glanced up at Roy.

"How are you doing today?" he asked.

"Uhh...we're doing alright," said one.

"Yeah, we're just hanging out," said the other.

Roy gave a chuckle and took a seat on the bench.

"That's cool," he said. Turning to the first lady he added, "Say, why don't you and I grab a quick bite? I hear that there's a restaurant nearby that sells really good hamburgers."

It was after he said this that Roy heard somebody clearing their throat behind him. Turning around, he saw another koopa standing within two inches of the bench. The first thing that Roy noticed was that this guy had very scrawny muscles. Roy thought that he could take this guy in a fight with his dominant arm tied behind his back.

"Mind if I step in?" asked the guy.

"Oh sure, not at all," said Roy as he got up from the bench, his voice coated with a condescending tone. "You trying to ask this girl out too?"

"Something like that," said the guy. Then he and the girl shared a kiss. Roy's mouth dropped open in shock.

"You ready for lunch, babe?" asked the guy.

"You betcha," said the girl. With their arms interlocked, the two of them walked off down the street. Roy, still recovering from the shock, was determined to regain his edge.

"Okay then. How about you and me go out for hamburgers?" He asked while turning to the other girl. Her snout wrinkled up, as if she got a whiff of a foul smelling odor.

"Uhh...no thanks," she said. With that, she put her purse over her shoulder and started walking away. Roy, not willing to accept another failure, followed her.

"What?" said Roy. "Well then how about hot dogs? Sushi? Steak?"

The girl refused to turn around.

"Come on, there's gotta be something that you like," Roy said. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he yelled out, "I HEAR THE SUSHI PLACE HAS GREAT VEGETARIAN OPTIONS!" This made the girl pick up the pace. Realizing that he was dealing with a lost cause, Roy let out an exasperated sigh. Then, he heard somebody chuckling to his left.

"Not having much luck with the ladies today, huh?"

Roy turned and he saw a figure leaning against the wall of an antique shop. If Roy had to guess, even though he was exponentially bad at guessing, he would say that the figure was human. The reason he thought that was because koopas didn't usually wear clothing, and when they did it wasn't to the same extreme as the amount of clothing that this person was wearing. They were wearing a pair of black combat boots, faded blue jeans, and a black hoodie. The hood was pulled up, so Roy couldn't see the person's face.

Roy didn't even stop to consider why a human was in the Koopa Kingdom. Instead, he just jumped right to interacting with them.

"Tell me about it," he said.

The person smiled.

"So tell me, do you wear some sort of chick repellent or do you just not have any game whatsoever?" they asked.

Roy glared.

"Don't be smart with me," Roy said. "This is just an unlucky day for me. Normally, I am so irresistible that girls of all ages are drawn to me like lights are drawn to a moth."

The person put their hand over their mouth. Roy was not sure why.

"Say, do you want a piece of advice?" they asked.

"Not really," Roy said in response.

"Well too bad, I'm giving it to you anyway," they said. "See that girl?"

The person pointed across the street, and Roy looked to see a koopa girl gazing at a necklace in a shop window. She had on a long cyan scarf.

"If you want to get a conversation going with her, just tell her that her scarf really brings out her eyes," said the human. "After that, she'll be like putty in your hands."

Roy smiled as he turned back to the person.

"Hey, thanks for the help," he said. "You know, I probably could've been able to…"

Roy didn't get to finish his sentence because something hit him in the back of the head unexpectedly. Roy turned around to see what it was, and on the ground lay a red ball, covered in white spikes. The ball uncurled itself, revealing a spiny.

"What the…" Roy said.

In the street, Roy caught a glimpse of a group of goombas, koopas, and koopa troopas running frantically. Above them all sat a lakitu on a cloud. The Lakitu looked angrier than a wasp that had just had its nest invaded and trashed, and he was hurling spinies in every direction one can imagine. He was throwing them eastward, westward, northward, southward, sideways, sphereways, inwards, outwards, and somehow, for some reason, he had even managed to throw them upside down.

"Dude, it was a joke!" cried one of the koopas from the crowd.

"No one makes fun of my glasses," screeched the lakitu at the top of his lungs. "You hear? NO ONE!"

The lakitu jumped, and when he did a collection of lightning bolts was hurled in every which way. At this, the person grabbed a hold of Roy's hand and dragged him toward a manhole.

"Looks like it's cloudy with a chance of temper tantrum," they said as they started pulling the cover of the manhole up. "We had better take cover."

"Woah, woah," said Roy. "You want me to go into the sewer? No thanks."

"Uh, sorry Mr. Big Shot," said the person, "but I'm afraid that you have no other choice. Underground is really our safest option."

"Oh, come on," said Roy. "This is my first time wearing my new cologne! I smell amazing! And if I were to go in there, then I'll come out smelling like a sewer, obviously."

The person rolled their eyes. How could somebody be this ridiculously dumb?

"Well, if you get zapped by one of those lightning bolts, then you are going to end up smelling like Kentucky fried Koopa," they said. "Now come on, the more time we spend out here, the more likely we are to get zapped." With that, they dived into the manhole. Roy was still hesitant, but upon hearing another thundercrack, he held his nose and dove into the sewer.

It stunk to high heavens in there. Roy was ninety five percent certain that he was going to lose his lunch once he entered. In addition to that, it was dark, so dark that Roy was having trouble seeing his hand right in front of him.

"Hey...uh...random dude," said Roy, "are you sure that this was a good idea? I mean, there isn't even any light in this place…"

As soon as Roy said the word "place," the whole sewer lit up. After his eyes adjusted to the light, Roy got a chance to take in his surroundings. He had to admit, the sewer looked a bit...cozy. Somehow, somebody had managed to turn it into a cute little home. There was a bed with a floral pattern comforter, a couch that Roy felt the sudden urge to sit on, a mini fridge, and even a little waste basket.

"Woah," said Roy.

"I know," said the person. "It isn't exactly a castle or a bungalow, but it's my home, and I love it. Except for the smell." They laughed, and Roy couldn't help but join in.

"Yeah," he said, "The smell can pretty much go die in a hole."

The person removed the hoodie, and when they did, Roy just stared, dumbfounded. They had the most beautiful and luxurious hair that he had ever seen. It was red near the roots, but as you went down it started to turn orange. And then, all the way down near the tips, the hair was a beautiful yellow color. Roy stared at their hair for a solid minute before it occurred to him that he had better say something.

"Oh, um, I'm Roy," he said.

"I know," said the person.

"You know?" asked Roy. "Oh, I guess word of my awesomeness must travel pretty quickly around these parts, eh?"

"No, actually, I just know that you live with Bowser," the person replied.

"Oh," said Roy. "Well that doesn't make me look nearly as good."

The human laughed and extended her hand toward Roy.

"I'm Celia," she said.

Roy took her hand and gave it a generous shake.

"It's very nice to meet you, Celia," he said.

Roy looked down at Celia's hand, and that was when he noticed something. Her hand looked very similar to his hand. It had a yellow skin tone, and claws that served as the fingernails. In fact, if one were to compare Roy's hand to Celia's, they probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference aside from size. Roy looked into Celia's face, and it was then that he noticed that her skin, just like her hands, was yellow, the same color as most koopas. Her eyes were also a beautiful, glistening cherry red.

"What is it?" asked Celia, noticing Roy's concern.

"It's just...your skin looks a lot like koopa skin," he said. "And your eyes look a lot like koopa eyes. And your hair...I don't think anybody but a koopa could have hair like that."

"Okay," said Celia.

"But the problem is that you look so much like a human," said Roy. "You wear clothes, you have a regular nose, and…" Roy looked at his back, where his tail and shell were. Then he took a look at Celia's back…"And a shell! You don't have a shell, either!"

Celia looked at her back and smiled.

"Huh, no I guess I don't," she said.

"So, which are you?" asked Roy. "Are you human or are you koopa?

Celia's smile spread even wider.

"Actually, I'm both," she said. "I'm a half human, half koopa hybrid!"


	2. Chapter 2 Her Father is Who?

Chapter 2 Her Father is Who?

"A half human?" asked Iggy.

Roy was back in Bowser's Castle, and he was recalling the events of the story to his siblings: Larry, Morton, Wendy, Iggy, Lemmy, and Ludwig. In all of the Mushroom World there was not a more wacky or more diversified group of siblings. Whether it be because of the happy go lucky attitude of Lemmy, the superpowers of Ludwig, the obsession with science that Iggy had, or the dark brown skin of Morton, people often had trouble believing that the Koopalings were biologically related.

"That's what she told me," said Roy.

Iggy looked completely dumbstruck by the news. The other Koopalings also looked pretty skeptical in regards to it.

"It sounds impossible," said Ludwig.

"Well, it's not," said Roy while stamping his foot on the ground, "that girl was a real live genuine halfie...uh, thingy."

The others exchanged looks.

"Well, I think it sounds neat," said Lemmy. "It's like Roy discovered an entirely new species."

"Yeah, it's like I'm a scientist or something," Roy said. "I think that you of all people would be proud of me, Iggy."

Iggy's mouth hung open slightly. He was still trying to imagine what Celia looked like.

"I just can't believe that it is possible for koopas to procreate with humans," he said quietly.

"Well, it's possible," said Roy. "And I met her."

Iggy's face took on a more excited expression.

"Roy," said Iggy, "do you realize how important this discovery could be to my research? You have to bring Celia to me."

Roy looked a little nervous. He did not like where this was going.

"I do?" he asked apprehensively.

"Yes, you do," said Iggy, his excitement growing more and more visible with each word that he said. "I have to conduct an interview with her. I've got all sorts of questions that I want to ask her. For example, is she warm blooded or cold blooded? Is she a mammal or a reptile? Does she prefer sugar in her coffee or honey? OH, I'M SO EXCITED I CAN HARDLY CONTAIN IT!"

This outburst caused Roy to recoil. The rest of his siblings came over and patted him on the back.

"Oh man," said Larry.

"For future reference, when Iggy asks you how you are doing, you should probably stick with an 'I'm fine,'" said Ludwig. "It will save you a lot of pain."

The next day, Roy went back into the town to find Celia. It took a little bit of wandering around and searching before it occurred to him where she might be: in her sewer home. So, Roy uncovered the top of the manhole and jumped right in without any second thoughts.

"Celia," Roy said, "are you home?"

To his total luck, it turned out that she was. She was lounging on the couch, munching on a granola bar.

"Hey," she said, "I never said that you could come in. What if I was naked?"

"Oops, my bad," said Roy.

Celia chuckled.

"It's alright," she said. She got up and opened the mini fridge. "Do you want a granola bar?"

"Sure," replied Roy as his stomach grumbled.

Celia tossed him the bar. Roy caught it and immediately began wolfing it down.

"Oh man," he said between chews, "this is delicious."

"I know," said Celia. "Can you believe that some jerks wanted to throw some quality food like this away?"

At the sound of this, Roy stopped dead.

"You..you got this out of a trash can?" Roy asked, his voice rattling with fear and disgust.

"No, no, of course not," said Celia.

Roy breathed a sigh of relief and resumed with his chewing.

"I got it out of a dumpster," said Celia.

Roy immediately started spitting out the remains of the chewed up bar. Once that was done, he started wiping his tongue with his hands, trying to get rid of any remnants of the flavor or any tiny little crumbs that might still be in his mouth. He was so busy doing this that he didn't even notice Celia laughing hysterically until he had finished.

"I was joking," she said while trying to calm herself down. "I would never do that to you."

Roy felt relief wash over him. Then he cleared his throat.

"Um, Celia, there's something that I came to ask you," he said.

"Okay," she said as she commenced with chewing on another granola bar.

"You see," said Roy, "my brother has taken an interest in meeting you because you are a...oh, what's the word? Hybridge? Hybrick?"

"A hybrid," said Celia.

"Yeah, that's the word, a hybrid," said Roy. "Anyway, as you've probably heard, my brother Iggy is a scientist, and he has never heard of a hybrid like you before. He wants to talk to you. So, I came to ask you if you'll go up to Bowser's Castle with me."

Celia ceased with eating her granola bar and just seemed to stare off into space. For a solid minute, Roy couldn't even tell if she was breathing. Then, the granola bar slipped out of her hand and dropped to the ground.

"Are...are….are you really serious?" she asked, clearly taken aback.

Roy was confused. He wasn't one who often used verbal irony, and he didn't think that the statement he just said could be taken as anything other than genuine.

"Yeah, I am serious," he said.

Celia's face had one of the biggest and happiest grins that Roy had ever seen in his life, even bigger than the smiles that Iggy would sport whenever he talked about chemistry.

"I can't believe it," said Celia, her voice going up an octave. "I'm finally going to the castle!" Celia started jumping up and down and clapping her hands together, like a little kid who just found out that their parents were going to take them to the amusement park.

"I don't see what the big deal is," said Roy, "people don't usually have this big of a freakout when they find out that they are going to meet Iggy."

"I'm not freaking out because I'm going to meet your brother, dummy," said Celia. "I'm excited because I'm finally getting a chance to visit Bowser's Castle. You see, I've been wanting to visit the castle for like...well, for forever!"

"How come?" Roy asked.

Celia lowered her voice and motioned for Roy to come a little closer.

"I have a bit of a secret," she whispered.

Now Roy's curiosity was piqued. A secret? He liked secrets! He had a few secrets himself. For example, he was terrified of going to the bathroom sitting down. Ever since he was little, he was paranoid that a magmaargh made of water lived in the toilet and would eat him alive if he sat himself down and got too comfortable. He always thought that he had better be ready to run if the monster ever reared its ugly head and decided it was ready for some Roy a la mode for lunch (or dessert).

"What's your secret?" asked Roy.

Celia giggled like a little baby that had just been tickled.

"I'll tell you later," she said.

Roy instantly felt infuriated.

"Oh come on, Celia," he said, " YOU'RE KILLING ME! Why can't you tell me?"

Celia patted him gently on the shoulder.

"Relax, it's not like I said I would never tell you," she said. "I just said I would tell you later."

Roy gave an exasperated sigh.

"Alright," he said. "So, what time do you want to go up to the castle?"

"NOW! I WANT TO GO NOW!" Celia screamed.

Roy put his hand on his ear to stop the ringing.

"Hey, settle down," Roy whispered, "take it down a notch, it's not like we discovered a gold mine or something."

"Sorry," Celia said sheepishly. The two of them then climbed out of the sewer and started their way, on foot, toward the castle. After two hours of walking, the two of them arrived, and Celia was welcomed by the rest of the Koopalings.

"It's really nice to meet you, Celia," said Larry as he shook her hand.

"Yes, it is," said Lemmy while excitedly bouncing up and down. Ludwig came forward and examined Celia from head to toe.

"Well, I'll be darned," he said. "She really is half human."

"Ludwig!" said Wendy while giving him a generous elbowing. "Don't be rude; she is a person." She turned toward Celia. "I'm sorry about this."

If Celia had been a few years younger, she would have been extremely offended by this display. Thankfully for the Koopalings, Celia was used to a few off-handed remarks.

"No, no, it's alright," Celia said. "I'm just really excited to get a chance to meet all of the Koopalings in person."

It was at this point that Iggy decided to come forth. His hands were jiggling to and fro, and he was having trouble staying in one place. Everyone in the room could tell that he was excited.

"Celia," he said, "I just want you to know that I have been extremely excited to meet you."

"Well," said Celia, "it sure is nice to meet a fan."

Iggy let out a chuckle.

"I've just never met a koopa-human hybrid before!" he exclaimed. "I didn't even think it was possible. It's an anomaly. **You** are an anomaly, Celia!"

Celia beamed.

"Well, if you think that's cool, then you guys are really going to get a kick out of this," she said as she started walking away from the group. "I'm not just a hybrid. I am the Koopa Kingdom's long lost princess."

The Koopalings exchanged looks with each other. Princess? What in the world was she talking about?

"Uh, excuse me," said Wendy, "but when you say that you're a princess, you don't mean that…''

Celia's smile grew even wider.

"That's right," she said as she turned around. "My father is none other than the one, the only….King Bowser!"


	3. Chapter 3 Beanbean Road Trip

Chapter 3 Beanbean Road Trip

The room was filled with silence. None of the Koopalings dared to speak as Celia stared at them, beaming as if somebody told her that her birthday was going to be celebrated everyday.

"Wait...what?" asked Larry, causing the silence to crumble like an unsturdy jenga tower.

"I know right?" exclaimed Celia joyously. "Isn't this great? This means we're siblings! Well, sort of, technically you guys were adopted by Bowser. But still!" Celia approached Larry, Lemmy and Morton and wrapped them all in a hug that would make a grizzly bear go as red as a beet. Lemmy was the only one who returned the hug; Larry and Morton tried to escape from it as if they were being strangled by the Grim Reaper.

"Wait, hold on just a Goomba squashing minute," said Wendy. "How do you know that Bowser is your father?"

"Well that's easy," said Celia as she allowed her three hug victims some time to breathe, "my mom told me. She said it was on a dark stormy night, long long ago. Mom was just walking home from a long day of work when it started to rain. Now, she didn't have an umbrella, so she began to run. Unfortunately, she was wearing high heels, so she tripped and fell. And who was there to help her back up? None other than the Koopa King himself! It was love at first sight."

Celia let out a dreamy sigh. She had clearly been told this story multiple times, and had recounted it even more. She loved the story, was probably obsessed with it.

"Hold on," said Ludwig. "If you're Bowser's daughter, how come he's never told us about you? I think if he would tell a secret like that to anybody, it would be us."

Celia shrugged.

"It probably never crossed his mind," she said casually. "He's a pretty busy guy, after all. And even if it did, he probably wanted to keep it a secret. After all, it isn't hard for secrets to get leaked to the paparazzi, and he most likely wanted to protect my mom and me from all that exposure."

The Koopalings exchanged looks of disbelief, incredulity and skepticism. How could Celia possibly believe this so deeply? It was crazy. The whole story was crazy. She was crazy. Either that or she was mind bogglingly stupid.

"Well, there is only one way for us to know for sure," announced Iggy. "We need to do a DNA test."

Iggy took the lot of them down to his lab. They all waited expectantly while he deciphered the code.

"Well?" asked Larry when Iggy was finished.

Iggy took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, as if he were exhausted.

"The machine couldn't even read her DNA," he said in dismay. "It was so wonky that it thought I was giving it the DNA of an alien to read."

An awkward sound escaped from Celia's mouth. It sounded like a cross between a giggle, a scoff, and a snort.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" asked Larry curiously.

Iggy put his glasses back on and let out a sigh.

"I suppose we will just have to just ask Bowser personally," he said.

"How are we gonna do that?" asked Ludwig. "Bowser and Kamek are in the Beanbean Kingdom, and they won't be back for another three weeks."

There was another moment of silence. None of the Koopalings were willing to make eye contact with Ludwig.

"Oh no," he said, "you guys don't mean…"

"I do hear that the Beanbean Kingdom is really pretty this time of year," said Roy.

Ludwig's mouth gawked open. His brow scrunched up and his expression transformed into an angry scowl.

"Celia, will you excuse us for just a minute?" Ludwig asked. He pulled his siblings out of the lab into the hallway, where Celia wouldn't be able to hear them.

"You guys can't possibly be serious," Ludwig stated. "You want us to go all the way to the Beanbean Kingdom just because some...some..._weirdo_ believes that Bowser is her father? Do you realize how crazy that sounds?"

"Look, I'll admit that Celia's claim might be a little unrealistic…." started Iggy.

"Unrealistic? It's bonkers!" said Ludwig. "Bowser would never do something like that!"

"I don't know," said Lemmy. "I mean, he does like to kidnap Princess Peach all the time."

"Yeah, but he doesn't want to have babies with her!" said Ludwig. "He doesn't want to have babies with anyone! He knows the laws of this kingdom."

The Koopalings nodded. By law, the king of the Koopa Kingdom was allowed to have only one child. That way, there would be an heir to the throne. Bowser had honored that law when he had his only biological son: Bowser Jr.

"That is true," said Wendy. "But he did bend the one child law a little bit when he adopted us."

"That's different," said Ludwig. "We aren't his biological children. If what Celia says is true, than that means that she would be the rightful heir to the throne. Since we aren't technically related to Bowser, we don't inherit anything."

"But do you think that Bowser would break the law?" asked Larry.

"Well, what do you think?" asked Ludwig, turning his head to Larry. Larry started to stutter.

"I...I...I," he said, "I'm not sure."

"Are you kidding me?" said Ludwig. His hands were beginning to be engulfed by a blue flame, signifying that he was angry. "You actually think that what Celia is saying is plausible? That's dumb! You are dumb, Larry!"

"Alright, that's enough," said Morton. Ludwig lowered his head as the flames dampened.

"My apologies," he said. Morton smiled.

"Now," Morton said quietly, "I am aware that you are incredulous toward Celia's story. I admit, I am as well. But don't you think we should at least help her out?"

The door to the lab opened and Celia stepped out into the hallway.

"Hey, I don't mean to interrupt anything important," said Celia, "but I was wondering if we were going to head out any time soon?"

Iggy put on a smile. It looked forced and actually a little painful.

"Suuuure.." he said, his voice sounding strained, "of course we're going to be heading out."

Celia jumped up in the air. Ludwig flashed Iggy a dirty look but didn't utter a single hateful word.

"I don't think we should use an airship, though," said Wendy. "Remember how Kamek got angry when we trashed one last week?"

"Oh, don't remind me," said Roy with a shutter. "I still have nightmares over that stuff."

"I don't even think 'trashed' would be the right word," said Larry as he crossed his arms. "We left one candy wrapper next to the steering wheel. _One wrapper._"

"Either way," said Iggy, "I think that the wisest decision would be to find another way to get into the Beanbean Kingdom."


	4. Chapter 4 Masters of Disguise

Chapter 4 Masters of Disguise

"How in the world are we going to get on the train without being noticed?" asked Larry.

Right now, the group was behind a rock overlooking a town that had a train station. The train was what was going to transport them to the Beanbean Kingdom. The only problem that they faced was the fact that the town was populated by toads, who were at odds against koopas. If the group walked through the town, trouble would be sure to follow them.

"I have no idea," said Roy cluelessly.

"What we need is some sort of disguise," said Iggy. "Something that will mask our reptilian attributes."

"If only we knew some magic spells," said Lemmy. "Then we would be able to transform."

Celia scoffed.

"I don't need magic," she said. "I've already got a foolproof system."

When she said that, she pulled the hood over her head, putting her flame bright hair into hiding. Out of her pockets she brought out a pair of woolly black gloves and some sunglasses. She put those on too, making her koopa-like hands and her ruby red eyes disappear. Now, aside from the golden yellow skin on her face, Celia looked like a regular human girl.

"See?" she said. "What did I tell you?"

"Wow," said Ludwig sarcastically. "I'm so impressed. Why don't you try putting on a hat next time? I think that would really bring down the house."

Celia ignored his remark.

"Now all we need to do is find a foolproof system for you guys," she said.

"But what exactly would that be?" asked Larry curiously. He had no idea how they could disguise themselves in a way that would fool the toads. Celia could get away with simply putting on a pair of sunglasses and some gloves because she was half human. The Koopalings weren't blessed with the human DNA that Celia had, and because of that hiding their race would be nearly impossible.

"Yeah," said Ludwig. "If sunglasses could get away with hiding us then Roy would be invisible."

"Hey!" Roy said. "You trying to be mean?"

"No, not at all," Ludwig said .

"I think you are," said Roy as he balled his hands into fists and displayed them out front. "You wanna go, Luddy boy?"

"For telling the truth?" said Ludwig. "No, I don't. And besides, I would crush you."

"You don't know that," said Roy as he started to shuffle. "I work out regularly and am really strong."

"Well I can generate fire and electricity from my hands and can move objects with my mind," said Ludwig. "We haven't even started the brawl yet and you've already lost."

Roy became hesitant. He knew what Ludwig was saying was true; however, he still wanted to defend his honor.

"Yeah, well...well," he began, "I can...I can…"

Ludwig gave Roy a bored and incredulous look and raised his hand. He pointed at Roy and a blue colored lightning bolt traveled from Ludwig's finger to Roy's skin. It wasn't big, but it was large enough to sting Roy, who yelped in pain when the bolt made contact. Scowling at Ludwig, he rubbed his arm and and backed away, grumbling under his breath.

"Anyway," said Iggy, "what kind of 'foolproof system' do you have in mind Celia?"

Celia grinned.

"I'm glad you asked, Iggy," she said as she motioned to the Koopalings. "Follow me."

The Koopalings followed Celia into a warp pipe. When they came out on the other side, they found a costume store that sold costumes specifically designed for koopas. This was a lifesaver for them. While they costumes wouldn't get rid of their koopa features, it would hide most of them from the outside world. The Koopalings eagerly started browsing the racks. There was one, however, who was having trouble.

As Roy was looking at the costumes, he had a very noticeable frown on his face. He wanted to find something that was just perfect. Unfortunately, everything that he found didn't meet his satisfaction. When he pulled a fireman costume from off the rack, he shook his head.

"Nah," he said, "to baggy. And besides, it doesn't show off _nearly_ enough of my muscles." (Just a side note, Roy doesn't know how to pronounce the word "muscles" correctly. He ends up saying the normally silent 'c' so that the word sounds like "mus-ckles.") After he put the fireman costume back, Roy did some more browsing and eventually came across a spider costume.

"Nope, too creepy," he said. "Besides, I don't want to get sprayed by pesticide."

Next, Roy pulled out a pair of navy overalls, a green shirt, and a green cap that had an 'L' on the front. At this, Roy cringed.

"Bleh," he said. "What idiot would want to wear a costume like this?"

Roy put the costume back on the rack and sighed.

"Man," he said, "this place doesn't have anything good."

Suddenly, Roy spotted a koopa walking down the aisle. He was wearing an orange, plaid checkered suit and looked rather cross.

"Ooh," said Roy, approaching the man, "that looks good. What aisle did you find that on?"

"I BROUGHT THIS FROM HOME!" stormed the koopa.

"Oh," Roy said. "Got any other cool costumes back there?"

The koopa man gave a scoff of contempt and punched Roy into the aisle. Roy went flying (and you have to be in pretty good shape in order to make Roy Koopa go flying). Fortunately, he wasn't severely hurt, and he happened to land on a very slick looking astronaut costume .

"Oh hey," Roy said while picking it up, "cool. Now where was this on aisle twenty four?" With that, he headed toward the changing room.

Meanwhile, Iggy and Larry were busy trying on their costumes. Larry had on a superhero costume, complete with a cape and mask, which he thought he looked very appealing in. Iggy, on the other hand, had on a wizard costume, and was having trouble trying to find a hat that could fit over his ginormous chartreuse mohawk. The two of them were just minding their own business when suddenly, Lemmy burst out of the changing room. He was sporting a peach colored cat costume and was running at full speed.

"Look out!" he yelled sillily. Then, he rammed head first into Larry, causing the two of them to topple head first into the table where the hats lay.

"Man, Lemmy," said Larry. "Did you find somebody's hoard of hidden candy stashed away in the changing room?"

"Nope," he said happily, "I just really like kitty cats. The only problem is that I have trouble seeing when the head is pulled down."

"Well then why don't you get another costume?" asked Iggy with a note of concern in his voice.

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" asked Lemmy. Then he laughed and skipped away down the aisles, singing a comical little tune all the way. Ludwig emerged from the changing room, wearing a rockstar costume. It came complete with makeup, a wig, and a guitar.

"Wow," said Larry. "Nice costume, Ludwig." Ludwig sighed.

"Thanks," he said. "I wanted to wear a Baroque period composer outfit, but they didn't have one. So, unfortunately, I'm stuck with this."

Iggy laughed.

"Well, I wouldn't expect to find something like that in a store like this," he said.

"Yeah," said Roy as he came out of the changing room. "This place was made in mind for the people who aren't music nerds."

Ludwig glared at Roy. With a piercing stare, he went over to the checkout counter with Larry, Iggy, Roy, and Lemmy behind him.

"The five of us would like to buy the costumes we are wearing," Ludwig said. "As well as two more costumes in addition to that."

"Okay," said the cashier. "Who is paying?"

"Ludwig von Koopa," Ludwig responded. The others burst out laughing.

"Oh come on, that's not your name," said Larry with a smile.

"Yeah come on Ludwig, be honest," said Roy.

Ludwig looked embarrassed. He sucked in his breath.

"I mean Ludwig...Vanessa Koopa," he said in a grumbly tone. Iggy, Larry, Roy, and Lemmy stifled back giggles while Celia scratched her head in confusion.

"Ludwig Vanessa?" she asked Iggy.

"Oh, we koopas have a tradition," said Iggy. "You see, since koopas hatch from eggs, there is no way for the parents to determine the gender of the baby before birth. So, the parents assign two names to the baby: a male name and a female name. When the baby is born, they don't completely dispose of the name belonging to the opposite gender; instead, they assign it as the child's middle name."

"Oh," said Celia. She giggled, amused by the idea.

"For example, my name is Lawrence Octavia," said Larry while grinning.

"Mine is Roy Allison," said Roy. "It might seem like an oddball name to some, but I pull it off."

"Yeah," said Lemmy, "and Ludwig's full name is.."

"VON!" Ludwig shouted. Despite the female middle name thing being a tradition in koopa culture, Ludwig was embarrassed by the whole ordeal. "Von. Not Vanessa, Von. At least it will be once I get my tail down to a courthouse. But until then, I want all of you to be silent on the matter. You hear? Silent!" With that, Ludwig headed for the door. Roy, Larry, Lemmy, and Celia all followed him out. Iggy stayed behind and turned toward somebody dressed in a rainbow pegasus costume.

"Okay," said Iggy to the koopa in the costume, "the train heads toward the Beanbean Kingdom in half an hour, so we had better get moving. Are you ready to head out, Wendy?"

"Uh, that's not Wendy."

Iggy turned around and spotted a koopa wearing a knight costume. The koopa pulled up the visor, revealing Wendy's face.

"I am," said Wendy.

"Oh," said Iggy. "Then who is…"

The koopa in the costume took off the head, revealing...

"Morton!" exclaimed Iggy. "Why in the world are you wearing that?"

"Couldn't find anything else in my size," he responded nonchalantly. If Iggy didn't know any better, he would've sworn that Morton didn't know what he was wearing.

"Well, there are a whole bunch of bigger costumes in the back," said Wendy as she pointed near the back room.

"Nah," said Morton as he plumped the pony head back on. "I think I'll stick with this."


	5. Chapter 5 Masters of Disguise 2

Chapter 5 Masters of Disguise 2: The Subpar Sequel

The Koopalings and Celia were all heading toward the train station. The pressure of the situation was really on their shoulders. If they were discovered, then they would be brought before Princess Peach and potentially thrown into prison. None of the party members wanted that to happen, but one Koopaling who was feeling the intensity more than any of the others was Wendy. She was quivering like a leave in the wind, and whimpering in addition to that. One person who took immediate interest in Wendy's state was Morton.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Wendy's head rattled as she shook it.

"Oh, you know me," she whispered nervously. To try and pacify herself, she started to furiously twidle her thumbs. "I've never been very comfortable among crowds. Especially if the crowd consists of nothing but our arch nemeses!"

Morton patted Wendy gently on the back. As the most level headed of the group, he was used to seeing his siblings have a freakout once or twice. He just hoped that this freakout wouldn't call any attention to them (as he was starting to notice that the costumes were beginning to have that effect).

"Do you think I picked the right costume?" Wendy whispered. "I'm starting to think that this knight costume makes me look like a giant metal robot. Or a fat metal tube. Does this costume make me look fat?"

"No, it doesn't," Morton whispered in response. He patted Wendy on the back again, making sure to avoid her shell. Morton hoped that the toads at the ticket booth wouldn't notice the fact that seven out of the eight members of their party had humongous, monstrous shells gapping out from underneath their costumes. Morton knew that if any toads took interest in that, then they were toast for sure.

Meanwhile, Larry and Ludwig were having a conversation of their very own. Ludwig has a habit of wearing a long, draping blue cloak, and he had taken the liberty of wearing that over his costume. Larry wasn't to keen on that, and he was letting Ludwig know.

"Dude, why are you wearing that thing?" he asked. "It completely defeats the point of wearing the costume."

"No, it does not," said Ludwig. "And besides, I really like this cloak. I've worn it ever since I was six."

"Why?" asked Larry, still miffed as to why Ludwig took such a liking to that cloak in the first place. "Wouldn't you just get a new one? What is so special about that one in particular?"

Ludwig put his hand on the button of the cloak and dusted it off, taking careful time to make sure that the jewel shone as bright as the sun on a summer day.

"I like the button," he said at last.

"What's so special about…"

Before Larry could finish, he was silenced by Iggy. They had arrived at the ticket booth, and Celia was talking to the toad who operated it.

"Hi," she said. "I would like eight tickets to the Beanbean Kingdom, please." Celia even flashed the toad a smile, just for good measure. The toad raised an eyebrow at Celia and glanced over her shoulder at the Koopalings. Those who had their mouths visible despite their masks also flashed the toad some cheery, bright (as well as kind of nervous) smiles. The toad made a weird face, as if he was looking at a mess that his children made in their room.

"Not that it's any of my business," he said, "but what's with the costumes?"

Celia chuckled. She seemed to be completely unfazed by unease.

"Oh, we're just heading off to a comic book convention," she said. "We're all dressed as our favorite characters."

The toad raised an eyebrow.

"So, there is a comic book in the world where the main character is... a magical rainbow pegasus?" he asked skeptically after spotting Morton in his outfit.

"Oh yes," said Celia happily and smoothly. "It's called... 'Rainbow Mare and the Pony Posse Pals.' Trust me, it's got a surprising fanbase."

The Toad didn't seem to buy that. He gave Celia a death stare.

"Really?" he asked threateningly.

"Do I seem like the kind of person who would lie to strangers?" she asked.

The toad continued to deliver his deadly gaze. Then, he eased his brow and let out a smile

"No, you don't," he said.

Celia laughed, and the Koopalings let out long held breaths.

"I do have another question for you, though," the toad said. "Where do you get your unique coloring from?"

At this question, Celia stiffened up.

"My...my coloring?"

The breath that the Koopalings had been holding was instantly sucked back in. What will Celia say to this?

"Oh, that," she said as she let out another laugh. "You see, this is a result of a really bad spray-on tan that I got at the mall."

"A spray on tan?" asked the toad, suddenly engaged.

"Yep," said Celia. "Although, if you if you think that this is bad, you should've seen what they did to me last year. I turned purple for two straight weeks!"

The toad gawked at her.

"Oh my," he said. "You know, I got a coupon for a free spray-on tan at the mall just yesterday."

"Yeah, I'd throw that out if I were you," she said. She motioned for the toad to come closer and whispered into his ear: "Between you and me; if it's free, that probably means that you're going to be even worse off."

The toad put his hand over his mouth.

"Oh my," he said.

"Yeah," said Celia in response. "Now, about those tickets."

The toad smiled. Then, out of his desk he pulled out eight tickets printed on pink paper.

"You board on Platform 4," said the toad ticket agent. "Your train leaves in twenty minutes, so you had better hurry up."

Celia and the Koopalings paid for their tickets, thanked the ticket agent and hurried to get on the train. Once they got on, it felt like a big weight was lifted off of all of their shoulders. The amount of toads that were around them had substantially decreased, so everyone was allowed to just sit back in their seats and relax.

"I don't know about any of you guys," said Larry as he leaned back in his seat, "but I am actually looking forward to this trip."

"I have anticipation for this trek as well," said Iggy. He started to bounce up and down in his seat. "I've heard rumors about an undead gorilla that lurks near the caves of Teehee Valley. It has been said that it has a hoard of treasure in the cave that it dwells in."

"Treasure?" Wendy asked.

"Oh yes," Iggy said. "I'm guessing that it was a Kongickus hoardisus during its life. That species is notorious for foraging objects of value and accumulating a hoard of them."

Larry chuckled and elbowed his sister.

"I bet Wendy was a Kongickus hoardisus in a past life," he said.

The others laughed. Wendy scowled at Larry.

"Hey," she said. "Just because I keep a little bit of jewelry in my room…"

"A little?" said Lemmy.

"Wendy, you have so much stuff in your room that it makes the Koopa Kingdom National Treasury look tame," said Ludwig.

Wendy's scowl became darker. It looked like there was going to be a fight. Thankfully, Morton stepped in.

"Why don't we all go down to the dining car?" he suggested.

The Koopalings liked that idea. Well, they would have liked any idea if it didn't involve Wendy murdering them. So they took Morton's suggestion to heart and went down to the dining car. Once they were all seated, one of the dining staff came up to them

"Would any of you like to try some Chuckola Cola?" she asked.

The Koopalings exchanged looks with one another.

"Chuckola Cola?" asked Lemmy. "What in the Mushroom World is Chuckola Cola?"

"It's a soda from the Beanbean Kingdom," she said. "Made from fruit from deep within the Chucklehuck Woods, it is the Beanbean Kingdom's most prized delicatesse."

The lady produced eight bottles of the "prized soda." When the gang saw it, they thought that she must have been sorely mistaken. The liquid in the bottles didn't look like anything special. It was perfectly clear, just like water.

"Of course, Chuckola Cola is a special soda," she continued. "In order for it to fully mature, you need to tell it some soda based puns." With that, she walked away, leaving the beverages on the table. Lemmy and Larry stared at each other, and Lemmy started to develop a devious, impish grin on his face.

"Soda based puns, eh?" he said. Wendy, Ludwig and Iggy groaned.

"No, please no," said Wendy.

"Isn't it a little too late in the day for puns?" asked Ludwig, who downright despised it when Lemmy delivered a bad pun. Lemmy put his hand on his heart, as if Ludwig had just said the most shocking thing in the whole wide world.

"It is _never_ too late in the day for puns!" Lemmy exclaimed.

"Yeah," said Larry. "Puns are good, wholesome fun for the whole family!"

Ludwig scoffed.

"If by 'wholesome' and 'fun' you mean 'annoying' and 'nauseating' then you would be right on the mark," he murmured under his breath.

Lemmy ignored him and started to giggle.

"So, Larry, are you ready?" he asked.

Larry frowned.

"Oh, you know Lemmy, I'm starting to have second thoughts," he said.

"Really?" asked Lemmy, not sure where this was going to go.

"Yeah," Larry said. All of a sudden, he smiled. "I'm not sure if I can do this."

Lemmy burst into a fit of laughter. Those who were observing the bottles of Chuckola Cola noticed that it changed from a clear color to a slight pink.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it if I were you, Larry," said Lemmy after he had calmed down. "Normally, puns just seem to pop into my head."

Now it was Larry's turn to start laughing.

"Oh by the way, Larry," said Lemmy, smiling like a crazed hyena. "The trash is overflowing back at home. Can you take care of that? I think that will cap off your chores for the day."

"Oh, sorry Lems," said Larry, "but I think I'll be a little too fizzy."

Lemmy and Larry laughed crazily. The others, brow beaten by this whole affair, sat there shaking their heads.

"Be thankful that you have visible ears, Celia," said Ludwig scornfully.

Celia, who unlike some of the others had been chuckling at the jokes that the two had been telling, stared at Ludwig in bewilderment.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because you have the ability to cover them," he responded.

Celia got a smile on her face, much bigger than the smiles that Larry and Lemmy had been sporting.

"Oh," she said, "were those jokes a little hard for you to swallow?"

Both Larry and Lemmy burst into the biggest fit of laughter ever known to man or koopa. Ludwig stared at Celia, looking ticked off to high heavens.

"Don't get on my bad side," he said quietly and ominously. He then picked up a bottle of Chuckola Cola, which by now had turned a deep magenta, and started chugging it down like it was his supply of oxygen.

After this, everyone went off in their own seperate directions. Roy and Celia went off together onto an empty train car, away from the other Koopalings. During this time, Roy couldn't help but think about how beautiful Celia is. He wanted to take her somewhere special. Maybe to a nice movie, or perhaps to a beach at sunset. Maybe he could even get her a nice gift, like a puppy. He heard that chicks go crazy and drooly over stuff like that. As well as babies, but Roy wasn't sure if getting Celia a baby would be the best idea.

"What's he like?" asked Celia, pulling Roy back down to reality.

"What was that?" Roy asked, slightly disoriented. Celia chuckled.

"I meant Bowser," she said. "Is he nice to you?"

Roy hesitated. It wasn't as if this was necessarily a hard question. It's just he didn't know where to start with answering it.

"Well...sure," he said. "I mean, he's Bowser. Bowser is nice to pretty much everyone. Well, except if you're someone like Mario." Roy reconsidered what he said for a minute. "Or Luigi. Or Yoshi. Or any of the toads. Really, if you're anybody who lives in the Mushroom Kingdom, you can really dampen his day."

Celia looked a little disappointed and slightly taken aback.

"Oh," she said. "Do you think...he'll be disappointed in the fact that I am half human?"

Roy felt like some little guy should be waving red flags in the background. He had a feeling that he was entering delicate territory at this point and should probably choose his next words carefully, otherwise he would be in danger of seriously offending his new friend.

"No, no, of course not," he said. "If you're his daughter, then he'd probably be willing to accept you in with open arms."

Celia's eyebrows scrunched up and she glared at Roy.

"What do you mean _if_ I'm his daughter," she asked with an offended tone. "Of course I'm his daughter. What would make you think otherwise?"

Roy gulped. This was exactly what he hoped wouldn't happen.

"Well, we still aren't one hundred percent certain," he said. He had a feeling that his brow would be riddled with sweat if he were warm blooded. "Your mom could have made the whole story up, you know."

"Hey, my mom is not a liar!" said Celia. She shouted so loud that Roy was certain that people two train cars over shuttered. "She would never do that to me. She is a great person. Is, was, and always will be!" Celia then sat down in an empty seat. Although she wouldn't admit it to Roy, she was having doubts about her mother's honesty as well. She started to cry, which made Roy feel like pig slop.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to call your mom a liar. I'm sure you're right; she's probably a great person and was probably right about this."

Celia used her hand to dry off the tears that had been rolling down her cheek.

"You're right," she said. She smiled. "You know, I've been waiting my whole life to meet Bowser. Ever since I was told that he is my father, I've _begged_ my mom incessantly for us to go down to the castle and introduce ourselves to him. But despite all my badgering, she always said no. Her reason being was that he was way too busy. And I understood that."

Celia took a sip of the Chuckola Cola, which she had brought along with her, before continuing on.

"But I am glad that I ran into you," she said. "I've been waiting for an opportunity to meet Bowser for most of my life. Don't you think it was fate that brought us together on that street corner?"

Roy thought about this. He didn't know if he believed in things like fate.

"Uhhh...sure," he said after a while. "I'm sure that our meeting was supposed to be a real fateful whos a me whatsit. In fact, I bet that if we hadn't met the universe would have imploded…"

"You don't believe in fate, do you?" said Celia.

"No, not really," said Roy. "The belief that the universe has a plan and is watching everything that I do is kind of creepy." Roy shuttered. "Doesn't the universe know that I have a right to privacy?"

Celia laughed and took another swig from the Chuckola Cola bottle.

"That's funny," she said as she examined the bottle. "You know, this stuff is really good."

"Really?" asked Roy. He took the bottle out of Celia's hands and tasted the Cola. "It just tastes like apple cider to me." He made a face. "I'm not the biggest fan of apple cider."

Celia chuckled.

"Well," she said as she took the bottle back, "I guess that means there's more for me."

"Then what am I supposed to drink?" asked Roy as he playfully shoved Celia.

Celia spotted a potted ice flower on the window sill. She took the flower out and handed the rest to Roy.

"Here," she said "Mix this dirt with your spit and drink that up."

Roy cringed in disgust.

"No way in World Eight am I doing that!" he said.

"Come on, I bet it's good," Celia said through a fit of laughter. "You can just tell yourself that it's a chocolate milkshake!" She stopped laughing and stared at the pot. "I wonder what the nutritional value of dirt is?"

"Okay, get out of here," said Roy with a smile, letting her know not to take what he was saying seriously. Celia resumed with her laughing.

"These are the things that I think about," she said. Her tone indicated that she was making a joke. Roy didn't find it funny, but he chuckled anyway. He felt that he owed her a laugh after the fight that they had just had. Celia smiled. She liked the sound of Roy's laugh.

The train whistled in the background.

"It's getting late," Roy said. "The train should be at the station by morning, so we should be getting some rest." Roy turned and headed for the door. "Good night, Celia."

"Good night, Roy," she responded. With that, Roy headed back to his siblings to turn in for the night.


	6. Chapter 6 Dry Bones Battle

Chapter 6 Dry Bones Battle

The time was around midnight. The train was chugging smoothly down the tracks, and all the passengers were fast asleep. The Koopalings were out cold. It didn't seem like anything could stir them from their deep slumber. Suddenly, a big bang resounded on top of the train. It made the whole steam engine rattle and shake, and it managed to awaken Iggy and Ludwig from their midnight zzzs.

"Ludwig," asked Iggy with concern, "did you hear that?"

"Yeah, why do you think I'm awake, genius," said Ludwig groggily as he rubbed his eyes.

There was another loud bang. It sounded like a gunshot that had been muffled because the gun had been put in a semi-soundproof room. Iggy and Ludwig exited their room and looked up at the ceiling, where a series of thuds resounded. It sounded like something was walking on top of the train. Something extremely big.

"Go wake up the others," said Ludwig firmly. "I'm going to check outside."

Iggy jogged down the hallways and knocked on the doors of Celia and his siblings, his heart beating at a thousand miles an hour. With his fear escalating with each passing minute, it didn't even occur to him that the train had made a premature stop.

"What's going on?" asked Roy once everyone had gathered in the hallway.

"Yeah, and why did the train stop?" asked Lemmy. "Did we reach the station already? I thought we weren't supposed to get there until morning."

The thuds on top of the train returned. Everyone shuttered.

"That didn't sound good," said Celia worriedly.

The door on the side of the train car opened up, allowing Ludwig to come back inside.

"Guys," he said, "I think you might want to see this."

The group rushed to the doorway, and when they glanced outside an audible gasped erupted from the lot of them. The train had stopped in a desert, Teehee Valley to be exact, and all across the desert floor were hundreds of thousands of dry bones. The Koopalings were used to seeing dry bones, even in large quantities such as this. But they were not used to seeing dry bones that looked murderously angry at them.

"Oh man," said Larry. "We are so dead."

"Yeah," said Roy. "It was nice knowing you."

One of the dry bones threw a bone at Lemmy, knocking him to the ground. This caused all of the dry bones to rush at the train.

"Jump!" screamed Iggy.

Celia and the Koopalings jumped out of the train and started attacking the dry bones. Most bounced on top of them, but Wendy, Morton, and Ludwig had their own methods of attack. Wendy hurled her bracelets at the dry bones like boomerangs, Morton went into his shell and slammed into them, and Ludwig flew up into the air and hurled blue fireballs at them via pyrokinesis. No matter what method of attack was used, however, the efforts proved to be futile as the dry bones regenerated.

"It's no use," said Iggy in dismay after he had squashed another skeleton. "We're not making any progress."

"Ludwig, how are you doing?" cried Wendy so that her brother could hear her. Ludwig hurled another fireball at another dry bones. The dry bones didn't even get singed; when the fireball hit it, the fire simply bounced off the surface of its smooth, crackly bones.

"They're immune to my fire!" screamed Ludwig in amazement.

"So what do we do now?" asked Larry. The dry bones were now closing in on the eight of them. Celia put her hand on her chin, considering the situation.

"Wait a minute!" she exclaimed. "I've got an idea!" With that, she rushed back onto the train. Roy, filled with curiosity, followed her.

"Celia!" he yelled. "What are you doing?"

Celia didn't turn around or stop running as she explained her plan to Roy.

"The dry bones are immune to fire," she said. "But they might not necessarily be immune to ice."

"Ice?" asked Roy. "What do you mean?"

Celia stopped running and picked up something next to a window. Roy saw that it was the ice flower that Celia had pulled out of the pot from earlier.

"You want to use that?" asked Roy. "But Celia, it's impossible for koopas to use power ups from the Mushroom Kingdom."

Celia smiled.

"It might be impossible for koopas," she said. "But that doesn't mean that it's impossible for me." With that, she gobbled up the ice flower, roots and all.

Roy stood back in amazement to see what would happen, if anything. Then, Celia's entire body transformed into a living ice sculpture. Roy was amazed and a little horrified.

"Woah," Roy said. "Celia, how do you feel?"

"Like my insides have been turned into a freezer," she cried, and ran toward the exit of the train with Roy trailing behind her. It wasn't until Roy started slipping due to a lack of traction that he realized that Celia wasn't running at all. The ice flower had granted her the ability to create ice at her leisure, and she was using that ability to create an ice trail for herself to skate on. Roy couldn't help but sigh at the sight of this. _Man, that girl is awesome,_ he thought dreamily to himself.

Celia burst out of the train doorway like an energetic firecracker, animated and ready to make ice. The Koopalings cheered as she skated along and threw snowballs at her foes, encasing them in pure ice. In no time at all, the entire throng of dry bones was encased in a sheet of rock hard ice. When Celia had finished, the power up's effects wore off, and the Koopalings applauded.

"That was awesome, Celia!" exclaimed Larry.

"Ah, it was nothing," she said.

"Nothing?" said Iggy. "You pretty much obliterated a whole army of dry bones all by yourself without lifting a finger! We really need to get you as a boss of a stage the next time we go princess-napping; I think you could be a useful asset to the team."

Celia blushed, making her whole face go an interesting shade of orange. Lemmy started to giggle like a little kid, causing everyone to turn his way.

"What is it, Lems?" asked Wendy with a raised eyebrow.

"I just thought of another pun," he said between chortles. "I don't know if I should say it, though."

Wendy and Ludwig exchanged looks. Ludwig sighed irritably.

"Go ahead," he said. Lemmy grinned.

"Thanks, Ludwig," he said. "Alright, what do you call it when you are hurling snowballs at your enemies? Throwing foeballs!" His laughter grew harder and he slapped his knee. Ludwig shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Oh, the world I live in," he said.

Suddenly, the group heard a loud bang come from the top of the train. They turned around nervously, and the sight they saw made them freeze. There, on top of the train, was none other than the infamous undead gorilla of Teehee Valley. The monster roared and jumped down to the ground. He grabbed Roy, the closest person to him, and ran off into the night.


	7. Chapter 7 Three Koopas in a Cave

Chapter 7 Three Koopas in a Cave

Roy felt nothing but shock and panic fill his mind as he was carried off into the night on the back of the skeleton gorilla. Why did the gorilla capture him? Where was it going? It wasn't going to...eat him, was it? Roy hoped not. He didn't want to end his life swimming in the stomach of a skeleton.

All around him, the scenery was going dark. _Oh no_, Roy thought. _The skeleton gorilla really had eaten me alive. Now it's just a matter of time before I am digested. Goodbye lovely Mushroom world! You will be missed!_

All of a sudden, Roy felt as if he had been dropped on cold, hard, solid ground. _Huh_, he thought, _I didn't expect the stomach of the skeleton gorilla to be so_...Roy knocked on the ground and felt around in the dark..._rocky. _He had been expecting something more squishy and acidic.

"Hello?" Roy muttered, not really expecting anybody to answer him back.

"Roy, is that you?" asked a voice in the darkness. Roy was so scared that he jumped to his feet and started running around frantically.

"Aaaahhh!" he screamed. "The stomach of the skeleton gorilla is filled with ghosts!" Roy started banging on the walls. "Let me out, skeleton monster! Vomit me up; I want to get out of here!"

All of a sudden, the place filled with light. Roy saw that he wasn't in the stomach of the skeleton gorilla, but rather a gargantuan cave.

"Roy, don't get yourself in a tizzy," said a familiar voice. "We aren't in a skeleton's stomach. The very idea of that is paradoxically ludicrous."

Roy turned one hundred eighty degrees and was both surprised and delighted to see Bowser and Kamek standing there. He rushed over to them.

"Bowser! Kamek!" he shouted.

"Roy!" said Bowser. "What in the Mushroom World are you doing here?"

"Well, I was just dragged in by a giant skeleton gorilla," Roy said.

"No, we saw that part," said Kamek the wizard, who was using a flashlight to light up the cavern. "We were wondering what you are doing in the Beanbean Kingdom."

"Oh, me and the gang came here on a train in order to speak to Bowser," Roy said. "What are you guys doing locked in a cavern all by yourselves?"

Bowser chuckled.

"Well, it's actually a funny story," he said. "You see, Kamek and I had decided to go on a sightseeing tour. We were in Teehee Valley when we heard rumors from the locals of a dry bones monkey that lurked near the caves. The two of us immediately took interest and we wanted to get a glimpse of it. We must have taken at least 45 bananas as bait."

"Which was idiotic," said Kamek. "Considering the darn thing doesn't have a stomach!."

Bowser cast a sideways glance at his magician. It was clear that the two of them had been bickering over this point for the majority of the time that they had been trapped in the cave. He gave a little sniff and continue speaking.

"Anyway," he said, "that didn't seem to work, so I had Kamek dress up in a female monkey suit."

"Wait, Kamek dressed up in a female monkey suit?" asked Roy, smiling.

"Yep," said Kamek irritably. "It was a cheap monkey suit that we bought at a store. We decorated it with a grass skirt, a lei, a coconut bra, a blond wig, and some awful looking makeup. I looked like Candy Kong after she tried to escape from a mental hospital."

Bowser laughed out loud and slapped himself on the knee.

"Oh man," he said. "Well, anyway, we managed to draw out the dry bones kong, despite the fact that we had a pretty pathetic costume. Unfortunately, he wasn't too happy to see us, so he knocked us out with a club and dragged us into his cave. The two of us have been stuck in here ever since."

Roy looked around the cavern. He noticed that it was a empty except or a few empty barrels and a quantity of bananas that littered the ground. Roy glanced behind him and noticed that a humongous gem was blocking off the entrance to the antechamber.

"You mean you guys have absolutely no way of getting out?" asked Roy, growing worried.

Kamek shook his head.

"Nope," he said. "The monster took my wand, so any hope of getting out of here using magic is gone."

"So we're trapped in here?" asked Roy. He was frightened and worried. He didn't want to be stuck in the cavern. It was dingy and it smelled of mildew and decaying bodies.

"Pretty much," said Bowser.

Roy started freaking out. He ran to the jewel and started banging on it with his fists.

"Help!" he called out. "Somebody! Anybody! Let me out!"

"Roy, " snapped Kamek. "Will you settle down, please? No one can hear you, all that banging is pointless."

Roy tried a new method: backing up and running at the door at full speed.

"That's pointless, too," said Bowser. "I already tried that."

Roy threw up his arms in exasperation and frustration.

"Then what are we going to do?" he asked.

"Well, there is only one thing for a noble koopa to do at a time like this," said Bowser. With that, he sat down cross-legged on the ground with his eyes closed. Roy and Kamek exchanged looks with one another, not entirely sure what he was up to.

"Uh, what are you doing?" asked Kamek at last.

"I'm utilizing the Princess Peach method," said Bowser without opening his eyes.

Now Roy was even more confused. Kamek got a funny look on his face.

"What's the Princess Peach method?" asked Roy.

"Simple," said Bowser as he opened his eyes and glanced at Roy and Kamek. "I sit around, and wait for help to come to me." Bowser closed his eyes again. Kamek and Roy exchanged another look.

"That's stupid," said Kamek bluntly.

"What, do you guys have any better ideas?" asked Bowser. "Come on, sit back, relax. The more patient we are, the quicker help will seem to come."

Roy and Kamek sat down on the cold, ridged floor of the cavern. There was a moment of silence as the three of them sat there, doing nothing but breathing in the dank air of the cave.

"This is boring," said Roy. Bowser laughed.

"Well, no one ever said being a damsel in distress had to be exciting," he said. Another minute passed before his face fell.

"But, yeah I'm bored out of my mind," he said. Roy and Kamek groaned and then collapsed onto the floor.

"I sure hope help will come soon," said Roy miserably.


	8. Chapter 8 Desert Trek

Chapter 8 Desert Trek

Meanwhile, the Koopalings and Celia trekked through the night, desperate to track down Roy. They had decided to follow the trail that the skeleton gorilla had left behind in the sand, and were actually making good progress. Despite this, Iggy was driving himself crazy with worry.

"Can't we go any faster?" he asked as his hands shook. "I can't dare to imagine what horrible things Roy is going through right now. What if that horrible monkey has decided to boil him alive? Or put him in a torture chair? Or has him hanging from a wall in a dungeon of his own making?" Iggy was so fraught with worry that these ideas were causing him to hyperventilate.

"Man, Iggy, will you settle down?" said Larry. "That thing's a skeleton monkey, not a member of the Spanish Inquisition. Or at least I don't expect him to be part of the Spanish Inquisition."

One person who was wrestling internally with confusing feelings regarding the kidnapping was Celia. She was especially confused because she didn't know how she felt towards Roy. She knew that he wasn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, but at the same time, she found herself being drawn to him. In addition to that, she suspected that Roy had a crush on her based on the way that he acted. She wasn't one hundred percent certain if that was the case though; she needed to hear it from him. Either way, she was trying to keep the group's spirits up by keeping a positive attitude.

"Don't worry guys," said Celia with a smile. "We'll get Roy back. And when we do, we're going to kick that monkey's butt bone so hard that he'll wish he stayed in the grave."

"Yeah," said Lemmy, who was known for being the cheerleader of the group. "Celia's right; we've got this guys!" He proceeded to sing a series of cheers and songs, much to the chagrin of everyone else. Eventually, the tracks lead them all to the mouth of a cave. At the sight of this, Lemmy ceased with his cheering and singing. Everyone stared into the blackness of the cave entrance, and Ludwig produced an amazing, sparkling blue fireball that it flickered in his hands. He held it up to the cave entrance, causing it to illuminate the inside.

"Remember, Ludwig," said Iggy, "the skeleton gorilla resides in this cave. We need to be as quiet as possible. Otherwise, we'd make it aware of our presence."

Ludwig sucked in his breath and glared at Iggy.

"Wow, thanks Captain Obvious," he said. "Got any more helpful comments?"

Iggy didn't respond. Instead, he gave Ludwig a look and entered the cave. The inside was the very definition of creepy. The floor was littered with bones, so the party had to be careful where they stepped. The place also reeked of death and decay, and the ceiling was adorned with a million cobwebs. Wendy let out an audible whimper as she walked down the cavernous passageway; in the blue firelight that Ludwig produced the place gave off an eerie vibe. Iggy tapped on Ludwig's shoulder, concerned about something else now.

"Ludwig," he said, "you're whistling while you're breathing. I'd recommend that you'd stop before we alert anybody that we are here. Also, your fire is way, **way** too bright. Do you think you would consider turning down the brightness just a notch? I would really appreciate that."

Ludwig gave a frustrated sigh and turned around to face his brother.

"Iggy," he whispered fiercely, "you do realize that making me mad will only make the flame brighter, right?

Iggy chuckled. At this point, he wasn't even attempting to hide his nervousness.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I just want to make sure that we are safe.."

"Okay, I'm going to stop you right there," said Ludwig as he put his finger on Iggy's mouth. "You want to make sure that the group is safe? Alright. How about you let me work on controlling my fire, and I'll let you work on controlling your voice?" With that, Ludwig turned and walked away, making it clear that the case was closed. Morton approached Iggy and put his hand on his shoulder.

"He's got a point," he said. Iggy sighed in defeat and continued walking, not even attempting to make any more comments. The party continued to trek down the ill begotten tunnel until they came to the end and gawked at the sight.


	9. Chapter 9 The Beast

Chapter 9 The Beast

The gang found themselves within a humongous open cavern. There were torches aligning the outer walls, so Ludwig's flame was no longer necessary. There were also at least forty five empty, multi-colored barrels and the cave was filled to the brim with treasure. There were so many gold coins that the floor was no longer visible. Precious gems such as beryl, topaz, amethysts, rubies, and sapphires could also be seen among the plethora of riches. They gave off their own glow in the torchlight, and each of the party members felt a sudden surge of greed flare up within them. Wendy, however, couldn't beat the temptation.

"Oh boy," she said as she ran forward and immediately began picking up as much treasure as her arms could carry. Before she could make much of a hoard, she let out a gasp. There, on a purple velvet couch, was the skeleton gorilla. It was letting out some of the most earth rattling snores you had ever heard, so the group could see that it was fast asleep. The sheer sight of it was enough to make even the most courageous of people squirm.

"Why does an undead gorilla need to sleep?" whispered Lemmy.

"Maybe he does it for pleasure?" Iggy whispered back, but even as he said it he didn't sound so sure.

"Come on," whispered Larry to Wendy. "Let's find Roy and get out of here."

The seven of them proceeded to examine the cave for any rocks that would cover up openings to places that would hold somebody prisoner. It was hard work, as there were many branching tunnels that lead to dead ends. After some searching, however, Lemmy whispered from across the room.

"Hey guys, I found something," he called out softly. The place where he called out from was a right in front of a humongous white gemstone in a far off corner of the cavern. The others gathered around it.

"Get a load of this," said Lemmy enthusiastically.

"Oh wow," Ludwig said. "Try fitting that in your bedroom, Wendy."

Iggy put his hand on the gem and felt around.

"Well," he said, "based on the color and the texture I would say that it is a diamond. Diamonds are usually formed in the mantle, not near the surface in caves. And even if they did form near the surface, the chances of them forming at sizes like this is pretty slim."

Morton looked pensive.

"I wonder," he said. He went forward and knocked on the diamond. "Hello? Is anybody in there?"

From inside the blocked off room, Roy, Kamek and Bowser heard Morton knocking. All three of them instantly got excited and ran up to the door in order to communicate with the party on the outside.

"Guys!" exclaimed Roy. "What took you so long? We've been waiting for, like, hours!"

The party glanced at each other with looks of excitement.

"It's good to hear your voice, Roy," said Iggy.

"I'm sorry, 'we?' asked Wendy. "What do you mean by 'we?'"

"Oh, Bowser and Kamek are in here with me," said Roy. "They've been stuck in here for even longer than I have."

"It's actually a really funny story ," said Bowser as he started chuckling. "You see, Kamek and I…"

"Yeah, let's not tell them the story right now, " said Kamek with annoyance in his voice.

"Okay, well, don't you worry guys," said Larry. "We're gonna get you out of there."

Morton put his hands underneath the diamond. Exerting all of the strength that he had at his disposal, he tried to move it. Unfortunately, it was as if the thing had been welded to the walls with a hot glue gun; it wouldn't budge. Next, Ludwig tried to to use his telekinesis to get the gem to move. The diamond was illuminated by a bright, glowing blue light; however, Ludwig's efforts were just as futile as Morton's.

"I believe that the rock is enchanted," said Kamek. "You would need to get my wand and a spellbook in order to move it."

"Your wand and a spellbook?" asked Wendy. "Where are we supposed to find those?"

Everyone glanced over at the skeleton gorilla, snoozing away on his couch. Tucked underneath its arm was the spellbook, and Kamek's wand was gripped in its hand. The Koopalings glanced at Ludwig, who begrudgingly floated toward the skeleton gorilla. As quiet as a mouse, he managed to get the spellbook out from under its arms without much of a problem. However, retrieving the wand was a much bigger issue. When Ludwig grabbed a hold of the wand and started to pull, he found that the grip the gorilla had on it was pretty tight.

"Man," he said quietly. "For someone who doesn't have muscles, this gorilla is pretty strong."

Ludwig gave one last mighty pull, but couldn't get the wand loose. Instead, he toppled over backwards. During this time, Iggy was a nervous wreck. He was shaking like jello in a blender, and at the sight of Ludwig falling over on his behind he gave one gasp that was so loud it echoed all throughout the cave. This caused the gorilla to stir, but thankfully not wake up. Ludwig gave one alarmed and angry glance at Iggy, who gave a nervous and quiet chuckle as he started twiddling his thumbs.

Ludwig then tried to pull on the wand telekinetically. He seemed to make progress with this plan. Unfortunately, as he pulled the wand towards him, the gorilla's arm came with it. He attempted to pull the wand upwards toward the ceiling, but when he did that, the whole gorilla sprang upwars off of the couch and floated in midair. Ludwig was now in serious danger of waking up the snoozing monster.

Iggy's shaking transitioned into trembling. He now couldn't look at the whole affair because he was so nervous. Terrified, he recoiled into his shell.

"Oh, tell me when it is over," he said. Then, he felt somebody tapping on his shell.

"Anyone order a spellbook and wand?"

Iggy poked his head out of his shell and saw Ludwig standing over him, both items in hand. Iggy was so overjoyed that he embraced his brother in a hug.

"Oh, you are amazing, Ludwig!" he whispered excitedly. He took the spellbook and Kamek's wand from Ludwig and got a little closer to the diamond.

"Okay," he muttered to himself as he started flipping through the pages. "Now I just need to find the right spell...ah, here it is!" Iggy cleared his throat and recited the words on the page.

"_Rocko majo haru watashi. Shigeru fiery narrow Waluigi," _he said as he waved the wand. The rock was surrounded by a thousand tiny, glittery sparkles, then it faded out of existence. This allowed Roy, Kamek, and Bowser to break out of the room.

"Well done, everybody," said Kamek joyfully as he retrieved his wand from Iggy.

"Yeah, two big thumbs up to everyone of you," said Bowser as he gave everyone the thumbs up sign. All the Koopalings smiled. They loved getting words of praise from Bowser. It was the biggest reason why they tagged along with his evil schemes. Celia stared at the Koopa King, her eyes glittering. She let out a tiny squeal of delight and wrapped her arms around his midsection in a hug.

"Oh, I've been waiting so long to meet you," she said happily. "I can't believe I'm actually here right now." Bowser stared down at her, looking confused and uncomfortable.

"Uh," he said, "who is this and why is she hugging me?"

The Koopalings exchanged looks. They weren't sure if now would be the best time to drop the news on Bowser that he possibly had a daughter.

"We'll explain later," said Iggy. "For right now, let's just focus on getting out of this cave before skeleton King Kong decides to wake up."

Everyone in the party nodded and proceeded to tiptoe toward the exit. They were all making good progress until Roy tripped and scraped his knee on the cavern floor.

"Oooowwww!" he yelled loudly. "Oh mama, my knee! Whoo whee, that hurts like billy!"

The ruckus caused the skeleton ape to awaken from its slumber. It got to its feet and towered over the lot. It looked madder than a fat kid whose parents told him he needed to go on a diet. Roy chuckled.

"Whoops," he said. "Sorry guys."

The skeleton gorilla started slapping the ground. The group broke into a run toward the door, desperately hoping that they wouldn't have to deal with any shenanigans. Unfortunately, the gorilla jumped over them, blocking the exit.

"What do we do now?" asked Larry in panic.

"Oh, where's an ice flower when you need one?" said Celia.

Ludwig flew up to the ceiling of the cave. Using his telekinesis, he started hurling a plethora of treasure and barrels at the ape; however, it covered its head with its arms, so it didn't get severely damaged. In fact, this ironically ended up helping the ape, because when Ludwig was done, it started to hurl the collection of goods every which way around the cave. This caused the party to scatter so they could avoid getting hit. Kamek and Iggy ducked behind an orange colored barrel together.

"Kamek," said Iggy, "do you have any ideas?"

"Well," he said, "I think I might be able to find a spell within the book that might be able to help us. But I'm going to need you all to keep that crazy ape away from me while I look through it."

Iggy nodded while he and Kamek rushed from out from behind the barrel toward the spellbook. All the while, the two of them tried to avoid the flinging of the treasure. When they reached the spellbook, Kamek picked it up and started frantically flipping through the pages.

Bowser noticed what Kamek was doing, so he charged at the ape with his fists out. He tried to punch it, but the ape dodged. Bowser threw another punch that managed to land on its jaw. The ape's head rattled and shook, and for a second it seemed like it was going to fall of its spinal cord. The ape put its hands on its head to get the rattling to stop, then kicked Bowser. Bowser stumbled back from the force, then breathed a fireball. After this, he turned toward Kamek.

"Kamek?" he said. "I hope that whatever you're planning, you put it into action soon."

"Give me one more second," Kamek said, speeding up the flipping. "Ah, I found it! Everyone get out of the way!" Then, Kamek cleared his throat and started chanting from the book and waving his wand.

"_Minimus articulus harboral obituary shockual!"_ When he finished the chant, a multitude of rainbow colored lightning bolts escaped from his wand and flew toward the skeleton gorilla. There was a blinding flash as the bolts hit the gorilla, and the infamous ape was gone. In its place was a tiny pink fuzzball with purple feet and adorable blue eyes. Kamek gave a loud gasp and collapsed onto the floor.

"Kamek, are you alright?" asked Wendy as she and the others rushed over to him. Kamek groaned.

"I will be," he said, "as soon as we get out of this stupid cave and into the fresh air. I feel like I've been in here forever." With that, Roy picked him up and everyone marched out of the cave.


	10. Chapter 10 The Truth

Chapter 10 The Truth

When they got out of the cave, everyone felt like they could breathe easier. They no longer had to deal with the skeleton ape. They were no longer trapped in a claustrophobic cave with nothing to sustain or entertain them. Best of all, there was nothing to cause anyone intense amounts of stress. The only things that were left to worry about were Kamek's state and Celia's secret.

"Are you sure you're okay Kamek?" asked Lemmy. "Do you need any Chuckola Cola?"

"No, I can manage," said Kamek as he stood up. His legs wobbled a little and he put his hand to his head, but he didn't immediately pass out. Everyone took that as a good sign.

"Well, I'd say everything turned out alright," said Bowser with a smile. With that, he turned to Celia. "So, uh, who exactly is this young lady?"

"Oh, this is Celia," said Iggy. "She is a koopa-human hybrid."

"Yeah," said Celia. "And not only that, but I am also your daughter!" With that, she embraced Bowser in another hug. Bowser looked baffled and confused.

"Uh," he said while turning to the Koopalings, "what did she say?"

Celia released Bowser from the hug and gave him a smile.

"You're my father," she said. "My mom told me that my dad is none other than King Bowser himself, and that's you. Oh, I've been wanting to meet you for so long. And I just want to say….I love you, dad!" Celia wrapped her arms around Bowser again. Bowser hesitated for a second, then hugged Celia back.

"I love you too kiddo," he said. The Koopalings and Kamek all gawked.

"Wait, woah, woah," said Kamek. "You mean to tell me that you had a child? With a _human_?!"

Bowser chuckled.

"Well, yeah," he said as he glanced down and gave Celia an awkward smile. Kamek's face filled with a mixture of contempt, disappointment, disbelief, and disgust.

"Bowser Hortensia Koopa, I can't believe that you would do such a thing!" said Kamek with a scornful tone. "This is a new low. I thought you were going too far when you started kidnapping Princess Peach, but to do THIS? We have laws, you know, and you have completely disregarded them. Frankly, I am disgusted with you, completely disgusted." With that, he turned and started walking away. Celia glanced at Kamek and gave a quick laugh.

"Don't listen to him, Dad," she said. "The point is we're together now, and there is nothing to take us apart." She gave Bowser another hug, which Bowser returned awkwardly.

….

Back at Bowser's Castle, Kamek was refusing to speak to Bowser. Kamek was pretty angry at him because he viewed what he did as a crime. The Koopalings, however, didn't know how to feel. They had been skeptical of Celia's story, so they hadn't been expecting it to be true. As they sat together in the common room, they couldn't figure out what to say, what to think, how to feel, or how to deal with what emotion that they should be feeling. They just felt...lost.

Lemmy glanced at his siblings, who were all sitting around, as silent as a library. The silence made him feel uncomfortable. He was used to everyone being in a good mood, or at least a half decent one. So, he decided that if anyone should be the first to break the silence, it should be him.

"So…" he said a little nervously, "what should we do?"

The others glanced up. They wanted an answer to that question. Each of them had wanted to be the one asking it, and had wanted somebody to be ready with the answer. Larry let out a sigh.

"I don't know, Lems," he said while shaking his head. "I mean, what went down with Celia and Bowser was just...I don't even know how to describe it."

"It was shocking is what it was," said Wendy. "It was shocking and insane. I mean, by show of hands, how many of you were expecting Bowser to say that he was Celia's father?"

Out of all seven Koopalings, Roy was the only one whose hand went up into the air. Everyone stared at him.

"Really, Roy?" asked Wendy. "You thought that story was true? Really? The story that had more holes in it than a piece of swiss cheese that had been shot over nine thousand times?"

Roy looked around at all of his siblings, who flashed him looks of incredulity and disbelief. Roy smirked.

"Well...yeah," he said.

"Why?" asked Ludwig. "Please fill us in. My curiosity is quite peaked."

Roy looked like he was really thinking hard, trying to pull from the recesses of his mind something that would be a valid reason.

"Well, I…I….I just liked the way that she told it, okay?" he said.

Ludwig rolled his eyes and Wendy shook her head as she put her head in her hands. The intense silence that had left the room returned. It did not stay for long though, as Morton took a deep breath and made his soft voice heard.

"I think that we need to go talk to him," he said.

Everyone exchanged looks. They all seemed to like that idea. Roy, however, felt confused.

"Wait, who are we talking about?" he asked.

Everyone except for Lemmy and Morton expressed frustration at that question in some way. Ludwig facepalmed, and Wendy, Larry, and Iggy all groaned.

"He was talking about Bowser, Roy," said Ludwig, his voice bearing the very definition of an exasperated tone.

"And you know what?" said Iggy as he got up from his chair, "I think that Morton's suggestion would be a perfectly sensible action. We manifestly have questions for him. I personally want to know what was going through Bowser's mind when he was going out with Celia's mom. So, I believe that an interrogation would be the most obvious and logical choice."

Everyone nodded. So, the seven of them stood up and made their way to Bowser's throne room, where they knew he would be. They were prepared to present him with questions, but they were not prepared for the sight that met their eyes. Bowser was sitting in his throne with his head in his hands, and it sounded like he was sobbing.

"Oh, what have I done?" he asked himself loudly while his body shook. "What was I thinking?"

The Koopalings exchanged glances. What was going on? Larry approached Bowser cautiously and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, Bowser," he said. "Are you alright?"

Bowser sat up. He was shaking uncontrollably. Teardrops stained his scaly skin and his nose was running like it was training for a marathon. The whites of his eyes were a soft pink, the same color as rose petals.

"No, I'm not alright," he said, his voice shaking as madly as his body. "I just made a stupid mistake."

"Hey!" said Roy as he approached Bowser's throne. "I know that Celia might seem like a weirdo to some people. But that does not mean you made a mistake bringing her into the world."

"No, I didn't mean that!" said Bowser. "I meant I made a mistake by saying that she is my daughter."

"Okay, said Iggy, "I can understand your logic. But you told her the truth. There's nothing inherently wrong with telling the truth."

There was a moment of silence. Bowser looked down into his lap. His body had stopped shaking and he was refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

"You...did tell the truth, right?" asked Iggy.

Bowser shook his head.

"No," he said. "I did not."

Iggy's eyes grew as wide as saucers. Wendy let out a little gasp, and Ludwig put his hands on his hips.

"What is the matter with you?" he asked as his eyebrows scrunched up.

"I'm sorry!" Bowser said as the tears resurfaced. "I didn't want to hurt Cecily, or whatever her name is. She just looked so happy to see me. I thought that if I told her that I was her father, it would make her even happier. But look at what happened because of it! Kamek won't talk to me, and I'm going to be in big trouble when people find out that I have another biological child. Oh, what am I going to do?"

"You need to tell Celia the truth," said Iggy.

Bowser let out a laugh.

"Oh no, I can't do that," he said. "Then I'll have two people who will refuse to talk to me."

"Do you even hear what you're saying?" asked Ludwig in disbelief. "You're acting as if you and Celia have been friends forever. For Pete's sake, you didn't even know she existed until she rescued you in the desert!"

"Exactly!" said Iggy. "And besides, Celia has been believing a fabrication for far too long. It is time that her eyes be opened."

Bowser considered what Iggy and Ludwig were saying. They did make some good points. But what would Celia say? What would she think? After some more consideration, however, he had to agree that there was no other option.

"Okay," he said. "I'll do it."

"Good idea," said Iggy with a nod.

"But try to take it easy on her," said Wendy. "Remember, she lived her whole life believing this story. It would be pretty world-shattering for her to find out it's false."

Bowser nodded in agreement.

"No, you're right," he said. "You guys are absolutely right. So when I break the news to her, I will be nice, sincere, and sophisticated."

At that moment, Celia came through the door. She had a book in her hand and was grinning from ear to ear. She greeted Bowser, who motioned for the Koopalings to exit the throne room. He got up from his throne, his heart rate elevated and his breathing rapid.

"Listen, uh, Celia," he said nervously. Before he could say anything more, Celia held up her hand.

"Wait," Celia said. "Before you say anything, there is something that I want to show you." She presented to him the book that she had been carrying. It had a pink cover and was decorated with a lacy purple ribbon. The title read "Sweet Sweet Memories."

"See?" Celia said as her grin got brighter. "This is a scrapbook that my mom made. I've been holding on to it for years knowing that one day, I'd be able to show it to you."

Bowser gave a pained smile. He had initially thought that this was going to be easy. Now he was seeing that the truth was going to inflict more damage on Celia than he had hoped.

"That's...that's great," said Bowser, the anxiety prevalent in his voice. "But look, there's something that I have to…"

"Oh, look at this one!" said Celia as she pointed to a picture. The photograph showed her and her mom out on a sunny day when Celia was a little girl. Her mom was blowing bubbles, and Celia was rushing to pop the bubbles while a fuzzy dandelion was in her hair. Together the bubbles and dandelion fuzz were creating quite a show in the air. "Isn't it great?"

"Uh, sure," said Bowser, barely taking the time to look at the photo. "But Celia…"

"Oh wait, I'll bet you'll get a kick out of this one!" said Celia as she flipped through the pages. She landed on a picture of her as a toddler, blowing out the candles on a birthday cake. She was also wearing a shirt that said: "50% human, 50% koopa, 100% loved."

"Isn't that cute?" asked Celia. "My mom made that shirt herself."

"Yeah yeah sure, it's adorable," said Bowser. "But Celia, I really, really have to tell you some…"

"Oh, you have to see the one that shows me at Christmas!" Celia said as she resumed with flipping through the scrapbook. "That one is so sweet that you'll get type two diabetes if you're within a ten-mile radius of…"

"I'm not your father!" Bowser yelled. "I'm sorry I lied."

Celia stopped skimming through the pages. She let the book fall to the floor as she stared into Bowser's face.

"What?" she asked. "What do you mean you're not my father? Of course, you're my father."

"No, I'm not," Bowser said. "I only have one biological child, and how I got him is a very long and very complicated story. I'm sorry, but I can't be your father."

Celia's eyes looked shiny as tears welled up in them.

"But...but…"

Celia picked up the scrapbook. She turned to the front page, where there was a picture of a smiling, brunette woman.

"This is my mother!" she said as she pointed to the picture. "Don't you recognize her?"

Bowser shook his head.

"I'm sorry," he said, "but I've never seen that woman before in my life."

Celia closed the book and held it at her side. She stared down at the floor, not daring to look Bowser in the eye.

"Are you okay?" Bowser asked.

"Okay?" she asked. "How can I be okay? You lied straight to my face."

"Look," he said. "I'm really sorry."

Celia still refused to look at Bowser. She was now shaking and her fist was clenched.

"You're horrible," she said quietly.

"What?" asked Bowser.

"You're absolutely horrible," said Celia. "Everyone in the Koopa Kingdom says that you are a great king. But you're not. You're just selfish."

Now Celia's fist was shaking uncontrollably. She looked Bowser in the face and when she did, he could see that hot tears were forming in her eyes. Her skin had also turned a bright shade of vermillion.

"You know what?" she said, her voice rising like bread. "I'm glad you're not my father. You know why? Because you're nothing more than an empty husk who has no decency to his name! I hate you! I absolutely hate you, you disgusting waste of space!"

With that, Celia ran off, leaving Bowser staggered and hurt.


	11. Chapter 11 Roy's Confession

Chapter 11 Roy's Confession

Celia was sitting behind a rock, tears falling down her face. She was ripping pages out of the scrapbook and using them as tissues. She couldn't believe it; she had made herself look like a fool. She couldn't remember the last time she had been in a situation this embarrassing and heart breaking. She felt like her heart had been ripped into a billion pieces and thrown into the fire.

She also felt extremely angry at her mother. This was all her fault. She was the one who lied to her. She was the one who didn't even think twice before she told her one of the biggest lies in the Mushroom World. If she could, Celia wanted to go to her mother and yell at her. Or do something worse.

Celia thought back to the time when her mother had told her the lie. It was when she had gotten home from school. She had been very harshly bullied by the other kids and had come home all worked up. Her mother had immediately noticed and attended to her crying girl.

"Oh, honey," she said, "what's the matter? Did something happen at school today?"

Celia could barely breathe as she tried to recall what happened.

"It...it was my classmates," she said as salty tears stained her goldenrod cheeks. "They...they called...they called me a…" Celia couldn't even bring herself to say it and burst into a fresh round of sobs. She buried her face in her mother's chest and continued to cry loudly. Her mother gave her a hug and stroked her back.

"Oh, sweetie," she said, her heart broken. Then she got an idea.

"Come with me," she said. Celia dried her eyes as she followed her mother, who brought her into the dining room. One corner of the room was stacked with so many boxes that Celia couldn't see the wall. Her mother opened a fairly small box and out of it pulled a brightly colored poster.

"Do you know who this is?" she asked as she handed it to Celia.

"Sure I do," said Celia. "That's King Bowser Koopa."

Her mother smiled.

"Right," she said. "But he's not just the king of the koopas. He's also your father."

Celia stared at her mother, her mouth falling open in shock.

"What did you say?" she asked in disbelief.

"That's your father, Celia," her mother said with a smile.

Celia's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. Her mouth opened into a smile of pure elation.

"You mean," she said, "I'm a princess?"

Her mother nodded.

"That's so cool!" Celia screamed in excitement. She wrapped her mother in another hug.

"That's right, Celia," her mother said. "You're my little princess."

Celia heard footsteps coming up from behind her, bringing her back to the present moment. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Roy coming up to her.

"Ah, there you are," he said. "I've been looking everywhere for you. For a minute, I thought that some alien species had come down and tried to turn you into their new queen, but then I realized that was stupid. Aliens are probably electing presidents nowadays anyway." Roy sat down beside Celia. "Are you alright?"

Celia sighed.

"I don't know," she said. "I mean, how would you feel if you just found out that most of your life you've been believing a lie?"

Roy shrugged.

"Oh man, I don't know," he said. "I mean, most of the people in my life are pretty trustworthy."

With that, Celia started crying all over again.

"You know," she said, "after my mom told me that Bowser was my dad, I signed my name as 'Celia Koopa' instead of 'Celia Patch.'" She pulled another paper out of the scrapbook and used that to blow her nose. "How could I be so stupid?"

"Hey," he said. "You're not stupid. In fact, you're incredibly smart."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better," Celia said as she crumpled up the scrapbook page and tossed it to the side.

"What! That's not...well, maybe that's a little bit true," Roy said. "But so what if it is? It's the truth either way."

Celia sniffed and closed the scrapbook. The pain in her eyes was still there, but now there was a little bit of incredulity mixed with it.

"Well, thanks for that," she said, "but I think there is evidence to suggest the contrary."

"Oh, don't be that way," Roy said. "So you made a mistake. Big deal. We all make mistakes. Hey, I make mistakes all the time, it doesn't mean I'm...well okay, maybe that isn't the best reasoning."

Celia stared at him. If it hadn't been for the fact that she had recently cried her eyes out, Roy might have been a little intimidated by her expression. All it did, however, was make him want to wrap her in a blanket.

"You see, the point that I am trying to make," Roy continued, "is that you are not a dummy. You are probably the smartest girl I've ever met. Which is impressive, because I have met a lot of girls. Sure, most of them just threw drinks in my face and walked down the street while I called to them in a totally suave manner, but hey, I can't control how a chick chooses to express their love, am I right?"

Celia looked from Roy to her feet and shook her head.

"You're pathetic," she said, and got up and started walking away.

"Hey!" said Roy as he got to his feet. "Where are you going?"

"What's it to you?" asked Celia. Her voice seemed to be clenching its fists.

"'What's it to me?'" asked Roy. "I just went on a journey with you that took us all the way out of the kingdom and you think that I wouldn't care about you? Come on, Celia, tell me where it is that you are going."

Celia stopped, and a moment of tensity hung between them. Roy was worried that Celia was going to lash out at him. But if she did, in what way? Would she start up an argument where she would yell at him or would she try to hit him, and a fight on the physical level would break out? In some ways, the latter was what Roy was more worried about. It wasn't that he was worried that he couldn't take Celia in a fist fight. He could destroy her, and that was what he was afraid of; he didn't want Celia ending up in a hospital bed because of him.

To Roy's surprise, Celia took a deep breath and turned around. Her gaze had softened and she didn't appear as angry as before.

"I'm going to see my mother," she said softly.

Roy perked up.

"Your mother?" he said. "Why do you want to see her?"

"I want to ask her about my dad," she said stiffly, and began walking away.

"Wait," said Roy, putting his hand on her shoulder. "I want to come with you."

Celia scoffed again, allowing the horror movie monster of her inner incredulity to take its full form.

"And why would you want to do that?" she asked, one eyebrow heading into space. Roy stopped short.

"Well...because...because…" he stuttered. For the first time in his life, Roy had no idea what to say in front of a pretty girl. Celia rolled her eyes.

"Go back to Bowser's Castle, Roy," she said. "And leave me be." With that, she started marching away.

"No, wait!" said Roy. "Look, the reason why I want to come with you is...is because I like you, okay?"

Celia stopped dead. She turned toward Roy, and the look on her face was a mixture of surprise and jubilation.

"What did you say?" she asked, her voice coming out in a squeak.

"I said that I like you," said Roy. "And I mean really like you. You...you're..amazing!"

Celia blushed, turning a deep vermillion. At the speed of thought, all of her anger and sadness melted away, to be replaced by pure happiness.

"You like me?" she asked, her face searing hot and her voice high and fluttery.

"Yeah, I do," said Roy. "I want to take you to the beach at sunset, and to a nice movie, and I want to buy you pretty jewelry that would go with your hair and flowers that you like that don't make your nose itch. I want to make your dreams come true, and I want to be there when you ask your mom about your dad." Roy approached Celia and took her hands in his. "I mean, if that's okay with you."

Celia thought about Roy's request. Then she nodded.

"Okay," she said softly. Roy pumped his fist in the air.

"Alright!" he shouted. "I like a girl who is not only nice and smart but also lets me do stuff with her! I am a lucky koopa!"

Celia smiled slightly, but her smile quickly disintegrated into another frown. She motioned to Roy, and the two of them started to walk west, in the direction of the Mushroom Kingdom.


	12. Chapter 12 Celia's Past

Part Two

Chapter 12 Celia's Past

The walk to the Mushroom Kingdom took the remainder of the day. It wasn't entirely walking though. Celia and Roy took a warp zone, and they also tried to avoid the burden of aching feet by taking a ride on a tour bus (which would probably be a smart idea for Mario to use). But even then, it was nearing midnight when the two of them arrived where Celia wanted to go. They strolled through the town, being able to observe the mushroom-shaped architecture in the full light of the moon.

"What is this place?" asked Roy with a yawn.

"This is the village where I lived as a little kid," Celia replied.

Roy looked around the village, taking everything in.

"This is where you grew up?" Roy asked. He frowned. "You know, I can't say I envy you; this place looks pretty bad."

Celia snickered.

"I don't really envy me, either," said Celia. "Considering that my childhood was pretty horrible."

Roy looked at Celia curiously.

"Why do you say that?" he asked.

Celia sighed and launched into a story from when she was younger. It all began when she was in preschool, on the first day of school as a matter of fact. She had just been playing with the blocks, minding her own business, when a toad came up and started interrogating her.

"Hey, you," he said. "What's your name?"

Celia smiled.

"I'm Celia Patch," she said. "Do you want to build a tower with me?"

The toad ignored her question and continued with his interrogation. He did it in such a demanding tone that one got the impression that he felt entitled to all of Celia's private information.

"Why do you look so weird, Celia?" he asked. "What's up with your skin and your hair?"

Celia felt a little taken aback, but the smile didn't fall from her face and she didn't hesitate to answer the kid's question.

"Oh, I'm a hybrid," she said.

"What's a hybrid?" asked the kid.

"It means that I'm half and half," she said. "My mommy is a human, and my daddy is a koopa."

The other kid looked amazed.

"A koopa?" he said. "Aren't koopas monsters?"

Now Celia felt shocked. She didn't see it that way at all. In fact, she loved koopas. She thought they were cool, with their colorful hair and their pretty shells. She was proud to say she was part koopa. She put down her blocks and stood up.

"No, koopas aren't monsters!" she said. "They're reptiles, and they can be really friendly if you get a chance to know them. They are just like normal people."

The kid gave Celia a funny look. He didn't seem to take Celia's words to heart, but it didn't matter, at least at the time. She had been looking forward to coming to school ever since her mom had made the announcement to her. She had daydreamed about it, talked about it, drawn pictures about it. She hadn't been excited about something the way that she had been excited about going to school, and she wasn't going to let a little ignorant classmate dampen the experience.

Unfortunately, there was a lot more unpleasantness in store for Celia than a kid with a few questions regarding her appearance and ancestry. For out on the playground after school, while she was having a good time on the swings, a whole posse of toads came over to her. The group didn't just consist of preschoolers, either. Some of the kids were in grade levels as high as the third. They had builds that were impressively burly for little kids, and their faces looked undeniably smug. One of them stepped beside Celia's swing.

"Hey, you girl," he said as Celia brought the swing to a stop. "My brother told me that your dad is a koopa."

Celia smiled.

"Why, yes," she said as she stood up. "Yes he is."

An ugly smirk came across the kid's face.

"I knew it," he said. "Your daddy was an ugly turtle man."

The other toads in the group laughed as if they were in an audience to a comedy act. Celia was at a loss for words.

"Yeah," sneered a second grade kid in the group. "Your dad is probably one of the most ugly creatures that anyone had ever seen. I'm surprised that your mom wanted to date him."

"He is not ugly," said Celia, fighting back tears.

"Of course he is," said another kid. "He's a koopa. Koopas are basically giant smelly turtles." The kid sneered. "I heard somewhere that you can get sick if you touch a big smelly turtle."

The kids laughed. Looking back, it was hard for Celia to tell if the kids had made up the insults on the spot or if they had rehearsed them. She would say that they made them up on the spot, but none of the kids were older than nine years old. Celia knew that she couldn't come up with insults like that on the spot when she was nine.

"Oh, so if we touch turtle girl, then we'll get sick?" asked a particularly skinny kid.

"I wouldn't think so," said the first kid in a mocking tone. "She isn't _completely_ koopa after all."

"Well, that's good," said the other kid as he grinned evilly. "Because that means I can do _this_!" When he said "this," he punched Celia in the back. For someone of his build, he was impressively strong; he knocked Celia right into the side of the swingset. She hit her head on the shiny, smooth metal, and it made a painful _ping _sound upon impact. Celia put her hand to the side of her head that had collided with the swingset. There was a nasty gash, and when she examined her hand she saw bright red blood staining her fingers. The toads laughed.

"Nice one, Art," said one of the younger toads, a first grader judging by his stature.

"Oh please," said Art. "I was just going easy on her."

Celia felt tears forming in her eyes. Clutching her bleeding head, she curled up into a little ball and hoped that the toads would leave her be.

"Hey, you know what guys?" said another kid. "I read somewhere that koopas like to eat humans and toads."

"Oh," said the first kid. "Does that mean that this little ugly freak eats people? That would make her even more of a monster than she already is."

The gang laughed again. They circled around Celia, who by now had the surface of her palm completely covered in blood, and started singing a song. To say it was nasty would be an understatement. It was crude and contained vulgar language that made Celia's crying accentuate.

"Knock it off!" cried Celia weakly, defenselessly. She couldn't fight off the group if she wanted to, and they knew it. They were the vultures, waiting for her to die so they could gobble her up.

"Say guys," said one of the toads after the song had stopped. "Celia is half human, so wouldn't that make her a cannibal?"

"Yeah, it does!" said another, burlier kid with a smug little sneer of a smile. "Celia is a relentless cannibal who eats human organs for dinner. I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to eat her mom at some point too."

This was the straw that broke the camel's back. Celia ran away from the group, tears streaming down her face like a waterfall while her head bled.

"And that was only the beginning," Celia said, bringing Roy back to the present moment. "I was mocked and bullied at recess and after school everday. I tried to get help from the teachers, but that only made things worse. In fact, the farther along into school I got, the worse the bullying became."

Roy listened carefully to every word that came out of Celia's mouth. When she was finished, he waited a bit to see if she would say anything more before responding.

"Wow," he said. "That must have really stunk."

"It did," Celia said. "I felt completely helpless against the other kids. I talked with my mom, and when the bullying got absolutely bad she pulled me out of school; however, that didn't do much to help. People still found ways to torment me when I was forced to leave the house. And the problem was we couldn't move because we didn't have enough money and there was no way to get it. My life became torture, so when I was ten I ran away from home, and I've been living in the sewers ever since."

Roy stared at Celia. She was the girl who had been lied to. She was the girl who had been bullied and harassed. She was the girl who was a hybrid, not completely human but not completely koopa either. Yet despite all of that, or maybe because of all of that, Celia was one of the most awesome girls that Roy had ever known. Perhaps the most awesome girl he had ever known.

"Wow," Roy said. "I'm so sorry."

"No, it's not your fault," said Celia. "Unless you were somehow the evil mastermind behind all of the bullying."

Roy snickered.

"Me? A mastermind?" he said. "Now you're really barking up the wrong tree, girlfriend."

Roy laughed until he realized that he had accidentally called Celia his girlfriend. Realizing his mistake, he was about to apologize when Celia abruptly came to a halt.

"We're here," she said.


	13. Chapter 13 Ruby

Chapter 13 Ruby

Roy and Celia stood in the walkway. The house that was in front of them looked very similar to all of the other houses in the town. In fact, there was nothing to separate it from its neighbors. Roy looked to Celia, who just stared ahead at the door. He had absolutely no idea what she was thinking. He had no idea what he himself was supposed to be thinking.

"So this is your mom's house?" asked Roy.

Celia nodded, without taking her eyes away from the door.

"So...are we gonna go in?" he asked. Celia stared at him with a look that screamed _you can't possibly be serious_ on her face.

"Yeah, of course we're gonna go in!" she said. "You think we came all this way just to stare at the door? What is wrong with you?"

Roy felt his ego collapse. Celia started walking up to the front stoop, and Roy followed. When she got up to the front door, Celia rummaged underneath the welcome mat.

"What are you doing?" asked Roy.

"While I was living here, Mom left a key under the mat," she said. "If I'm lucky, she might still...yes!" Celia's hand reemerged with the key. She turned it in the door, allowing her and Roy to sneak noiselessly into the cottage.

The main room of the house was very small and snug. There was a couch with throw pillows, a blue and white rug, a mahogany table, a cabinet filled with what looked like expensive china dolls, and windows that had aquamarine silk curtains. The walls were also painted a mystique robin's egg blue. Roy's taste was more accustomed to large, more decked out rooms, but he wouldn't mind living here for a while if given the opportunity.

"Okay, we're in," said Roy. "Well, I'm gonna turn in for the night. See you in the morning, Celia." With that, he flopped down on the couch, took off his shades, and shut his eyes. Celia started shaking him.

"Roy!" she said. "I didn't come here for a slumber party; I came here to get some answers!"

"Well, I'm exhausted Celia," said Roy as his voice took on a more whiny tone. "I have never been up this late. Besides, can't you get your answers in the morning?"

Celia scoffed.

"I did not come to the place I never wanted to see again just so I could wait six hours for my Mom to wake up," she said impatiently.

Roy glared at Celia. Both of them were growing impatient; Celia with the waiting and Roy with Celia's behavior towards him. Roy didn't want to have a fight, however, so he swallowed his pride and sat up on the couch.

"Alright," he said. "We can talk to your mom now if you want. But listen to me. Don't you think that waking people up in the middle of the night will make them a bit...grumpy?"

Celia was about to answer him when both of them heard the sound of a door opening. Roy got up off the couch, a little startled and not knowing what to do. In the dark, he heard the sound of somebody walking across the floor.

"What do you think that is?" asked Roy, his voice shaking.

The sound of movement stopped, and a scream erupted in the silence. It was shrill and ear splitting. When Roy heard it, he pounced on the person from which the scream had come from. Or at least, he tried to pounce on the person from which the scream had come from. The only thing that he landed on in the dark was the cold, hardwood floor. Roy got up and heard the sound of running feet, and instantly and instinctively moved in that direction. This time, he successfully pounced on the person and pinned them to the ground.

"Yeah! I got you!" said Roy confidently as he sat on the person's chest. He heard Celia's voice rise from across the room.

"Roy! Get off of her!" she exclaimed with a note of fear.

"Ha! No way!" said Roy. He turned his attention back to the person whom he had pinned to the ground. "Alright, bucko, why are you in Celia's mom's house?"

A light came on overhead. As Roy felt his eyes adjust, he could see that he was sitting on a young woman with green eyes, fair skin, and shiny brown hair.

"Because I am Celia's mom," said the woman. "Now, can you get off of me? I'm having trouble breathing."

Roy felt embarrassment rise up in his throat. Chuckling, he carefully got off of her chest. Celia's mom brushed off the dust from her wrinkled nightgown and smoothed out her shoulder length hair. Celia let out a breath.

"Roy," she said, "this is my mother: Ruby Patch."

Roy extended his hand to Ruby, who shook it gingerly. She looked a little flustered over the way Roy had acted towards her, and he didn't blame her. To ease Ruby's discomfort, Roy flashed her a charming and warm smile.

"Hey," he said. "I'm, uh...I'm sorry I pounced on you."

"No, no, it's okay," she said as she rubbed her chest. "I've experienced much more excruciating pain than that." Roy was still wondering what kind of pain she was talking about when Ruby went over and embraced her daughter in a hug, which Celia accepted with contempt.

"Oh, baby," she said as she hugged her. "You have no idea how much I've missed you. I looked for you for about a year after you ran away but couldn't find you. I thought you were dead." Ruby smiled; a small smile, but a happy one. "How are you? Where do you live? You aren't experiencing anymore problems with bullies, are you?"

Celia removed herself from Ruby's embrace and held her mother at arms length. Even though she normally couldn't resist giving people hugs, right now was not the time and she wasn't in the mood.

"I'm fine," she said. "I'm living in a town in the Koopa Kingdom, and no, I am not having any problems with bullies. I've removed myself from people, so I haven't given anybody the opportunity to bully me."

Ruby laughed.

"That's weird. If you have completely cut yourself off from society, then how did you manage to get a handsome boyfriend like this?" she asked while gesturing to Roy.

Roy swelled with pride. Ruby thought he was handsome? He didn't know how to take that. On the one hand, it sounded odd coming from a human, much less Celia's mom. But on the other hand...well, she called him handsome! Roy supposed that he could take it is a compliment.

"Oh, I'm not Celia's boyfriend; we're just friends," said Roy. "Although, I did call her girlfriend a few seconds before we came, but that meant nothing! Nothing at all! It was just a little awkward moment that made everyone feel uncomfortable and hopefully we never have to talk about it ever again!" Roy crossed his arms and put a triumphant grin on his face.

"Really?" said Celia. "It didn't feel awkward to me."

The smile fell from Roy's face. Now he had made things ten times more awkward.

"Well, I for one am just glad to see you, Celia," said Ruby. "I don't care who you are or aren't dating." Ruby glanced at Roy and studied him, as if she was trying to place where she knew him from. "Say, you look a little familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?"

Roy opened his mouth to answer, but Celia beat him to the punch.

"He's Roy Koopa," she said. "He lives with Bowser."

Ruby's face lit up.

"Oh, that's right!" she exclaimed. Then her face fell as she realized what that meant. "So...you've met Bowser?"

Celia nodded, her eyes searing with anger. She felt ready to strangle Ruby.

"Oh yeah," she said. "I've met Bowser."

Ruby sat down on the couch. She had been dreading having this conversation for years, and had been hoping that she and Celia would never have it. But Ruby knew that Celia wouldn't go on believing a lie for the rest of her life. Sooner or later, one way or another, she would find out the truth. Despite Ruby's hopes, she had always known that. She had known that the second she told Celia that Bowser was her father.

"I can't believe you," said Celia. "I can't believe that you did something like this."

"Celia," said Ruby, "I am so sorry."

"Oh, well that's great," said Celia sarcastically. "I am _so_ glad that you are sorry. But that doesn't change the fact that you lied to me! Sorry doesn't change what you did, Mom!"

"Well, I…

"How!?" screamed Celia. "How could you do that? To your own daughter?"

"Celia," said Ruby. "Don't you remember what life was like for you back then? You were being bullied every single day. I thought I was doing you a favor."

"A favor?" Celia scoffed. "You thought tricking me was doing me a favor? No, no, taking me out of school was a favor. But lying? Lying to someone about something that significant is downright horrible!"

"But...I was only trying to make you feel better," said Ruby as tears streamed down her face. "Can you really blame me for that?"

There was a moment of silence. Roy watched both of the women, tears flowing from their eyes, and he couldn't help but feel similar to a jack o' lantern that was put out as a Christmas decoration. He did feel sorry for both Celia and Ruby, though. Both had compelling points to make, at least to him. He didn't know which side he was leaning toward the most.

"No Mom," said Celia as she dried tears from her face. "I don't blame you for wanting to make me feel better. The only problem is that you did it in the worst possible way."

Ruby sighed and stood up. Celia now came up to her neck.

"Listen," she said. "I'm not saying that what I did was right. But like I said, all that I wanted to do was help you, Celia. I didn't think you were ready to here the true story concerning your dad."

Celia scoffed again.

" 'Didn't think I was ready,' " she said. "Well, do you think I'm ready now, Mom? Do you think that I've finally reached a mature enough point that I won't shatter into a million pieces if I find out the truth? I mean, what's the worse case scenario? Was he a deranged axe murder? Was he an evil scientist who performed experiments on people that are too gruesome to speak of? Come on, Mom, what's the deal here?"

Ruby was about to put her hand on Celia's shoulders, but thought better of it. She walked over to the window and thanks to the reflection, Roy could see that her eyes had a deep sadness in them.

"His name was Singe," she said. Ruby put her hand on the window and stroked it, as if she could see Singe on the other side. "I met him on my eighteenth birthday. Honestly, I was surprised how kind a koopa was to me."

"Hey!" said Roy as he started walking toward Ruby.

"Oh, no offense to you, Roy," said Ruby as she turned around and put her hands in front of her in defense. "It's just that even back then, koopas had a horrible reputation, and we humans didn't get a lot of exposure to them." Ruby walked back over to the couch and sat down again. "You know, there are some people out there who claim that true love doesn't exist. Well, when I was with Singe, I felt like I had found it. The two of us were inseparable. I felt like I had found a wallet with a hundred coins on the side of the road. No, I felt like I had found a diamond on the side of the road. I had never loved anybody the way I loved Singe."

Ruby stopped, and her breathing became louder, deeper.

"But that all changed," she said, "when we found out I was pregnant. When he got the news he...he…"

"He left, didn't he?" said Celia, her voice chock full of bitterness and anger. Ruby nodded, and the tears now came full force.

"Yes," she said. Ruby put her head in her hands and sobbed, her body shaking all the while. Roy couldn't help but feel a little sad too; sad for Ruby. He had never experienced loss of any kind, but he had heard how it can affect people. He glanced at Celia, and saw that her expression was just as hard and as angry as before. He wondered if she had ever seen Ruby cry when she was little.

Ruby sat on the couch for about two minutes, letting the long overdue tears come out. When she was finished, she cleared her eyes.

"I saw him one more time after that," she continued. "It was one day after I had walked you off to school, Celia. I remember him looking dejected and hurt. His eyes...your eyes... were so full of pain. He came up to me, gave me a hug, and told me that he could never see me again." Ruby's voice faltered. "He didn't give me the reason why, he just...he just said that he was never coming back. And that was that. I never saw him again. As you can imagine, that was the same day I told you that Bowser was your father."

Roy looked to Celia. Her expression had softened a little, but it was clear that she was still dealing with the anger over what her mom did. Roy, however, was feeling more sympathetic towards Ruby.

"I'm sorry," he said. "That must have been brutal."

Ruby nodded, looking forlorn. Then, she motioned for the two of them to follow her. She took them into them into the dining room, which had been cleared of all the boxes. There was, however, one box still there, which Ruby picked up. Out of it, she pulled out an old, yellowing photograph.

"This is the only picture I have of him," said Ruby as she handed it to Celia. "The only other things that I have to remind me of his existence are my memories and...well, and you, Celia."

Celia gazed at the picture. For a moment, all of her anger seemed to melt away. She had seen her father, she finally knew what he looked like. She looked like she had found a long lost piece of herself, a piece that she had been searching for since birth. Without taking her eyes of the photo, she opened her mouth to speak.

"Where does he live?" she asked.

Roy looked at Ruby. He saw that her mouth was hanging open and she was looking down at the floor.

"I...I don't know," she said after a little while.

Celia held the photo down at her side and stared at her mom. Annoyance shined in her eyes like the skin of a poisonous fruit.

"Well, is there anything that you can tell me about him that would be helpful?" she asked. "Did you know his parents? What he did for a living? Do you know anything about his personal life whatsoever?"

Ruby's eyes welled with water. Roy looked around the room to see if there was a tissue box lying around somewhere, but he didn't see one.

"I'm sorry," Ruby said. "Whenever I asked him about topics like that, he became very secretive."

"But you said that you were madly in love," Celia said. "If you're madly in love with someone, don't you think that it would be important to find out as much as you can about them? And don't you think it would be a warning sign if he hides stuff like that?"

Now Ruby was shaking her head as tears began to present themselves again.

"Celia, I was only eighteen," she said. "I was just a kid back then."

Celia's anger returned, fully present and fully formed.

"Unbelievable," she said. "You're just unbelievable. Mom, did you use your head at all when you were with Singe, or was it so high up in the clouds that you forgot to screw it on properly?"

Roy had to take all of his self control to keep himself from laughing. He usually heard insults like this come from Ludwig whenever he wanted to berate someone for being stupid or childish. He didn't expect to hear it from Celia. Clearly Ruby didn't either, because she gasped a little.

"Honey," she said. "Is this the way that you're talking to people nowadays? I thought I raised you to be more respectful than that."

"Oh, now you want to play the mom card?" Celia said. "You seriously think that you can do that after...after what you did to me? No mom, I don't think you have that right anymore."

"Celia," said Ruby, "I will always have that right. You know why? Because you're my daughter. You and I are joined by blood, baby."

Celia stared at Ruby. The evidence of the tears Ruby had shed was gone. Now she stood there, challenging Celia to say she was wrong. Celia knew that Ruby was right, and it made her even more aggravated than before.

"Well, here is what I think of that," she said quietly, and with the picture of her dad in hand she stormed out of the house. Roy and Ruby watched her go, Roy feeling dumbfounded and Ruby feeling a new sense of pain. Then, Roy followed after Celia.

"Oh man," he said when he caught up to her. "You just ripped your mom to shreds."

Celia nodded her head.

"Well," she said, "some moms give their children encouragement that will build up their character. My mom gave me a lie that would take root in my mind and grow into a poison oak."

Celia glanced at the photo in her hand.

"Honestly, I don't know which of my parents I am more mad at," she said.

"What? Why are you mad at your dad?" Roy asked.

"Because," she said, "he was a pig."

Roy felt confusion settle in and took another look at the photo.

"Really?" he asked. "That's weird. He looks like a koopa to me…"

Celia rolled her eyes.

"No, what I mean is he that was a good for nothing jerk," she explained. "I mean, what kind of guy leaves the supposed love of his life after hearing that she's pregnant?"

Roy didn't know what to say. He knew that what Singe did was wrong, but he didn't know the right way to react to someone like him. Should he get angry on Celia's behalf? Should he insult the guy right along with her? Or should he do something different? Either way, there was only one response that he could think of at the moment:

"I...guess...the type of guy that you just said."

Celia nodded. The anger and heat in her eyes was so intense that Roy swore they looked a different color.

"You know what I want us to do, Roy?" she asked.

Roy shook his head.

"I want you and I to go find this guy," she said, "and I want us to teach him a lesson for what he did to me."


	14. Chapter 14 Knock Some Census Into You

Chapter 14 Knock Some Census Into You

The next morning, Roy and Celia went back to Bowser's Castle with the picture in their possession. They recalled the events of the previous night to the rest of the Koopalings, who listened with keen interest. When the two of them had finished, the others had some of their own comments to make.

"So he just got straight up and left?" asked Larry as he stole another glance at the picture. Celia nodded her head, her brow furrowed.

"Wow," said Wendy. "That guy sounds like a real jerk."

Celia snorted. Roy recalled the harsh words she had used to describe her father the night before; "my dad was a pig."

"Oh, I don't know if I would lay down the hammer on him just yet," said Morton softly.

Everybody turned toward Morton. They all looked like they had come face to face with a three headed monster.

"What was that, big guy?" asked Roy.

"What I meant was that I don't think we should judge Singe too harshly," he said. "I mean, after all, there are two sides to every story."

Celia scoffed, louder and more brazen than she had ever done since Roy had met her.

"Two sides to every story?" she asked incredulously. "Morton, I have no idea how many times you've been hit on the head with a frying pan recently, but I've gotta tell you that I think that this story is pretty one dimensional. My dad was too much of a coward to stick around, so he left my Mom with his daughter and a big screw you."

Morton shrugged.

"I don't know," he said. "I still think that there could be more to this story than meets the eye."

Iggy grabbed a hold of the picture and stared at it.

"You know what?" he said. "I think there's a possibility that I met this guy before."

Celia perked up.

"You have?" she asked.

"It's only a possibility," said Iggy. "But I do remember building a robotic limb for somebody when I was six years old. I think that person might have been Singe."

Celia gawked.

"You built a robotic limb? At six years old?" she asked. The Koopalings just laughed.

"Celia, I think you underestimate Iggy's intelligence," said Wendy.

"Yeah," said Larry. "When he was four years old, he discovered an element: galaxium."

Iggy grinned.

"The only drawback is that I didn't have as great a memory as I should before I turned eight," he said. "I think that was because I was over compartmentalizing." Iggy then took a second glance at the photo. He stroked it, as if it was a precious artifact.

"I wonder how old this is?" he said, more to himself than to the anybody else. He turned on his heel and headed straight for his lab. Curious, everyone followed. When he got to his lab, Iggy put the picture onto a table, where it was scanned by a blue light. Typing something quickly into his computer, Iggy analyzed the data that the scan produced.

"It appears that this portrait is about twenty years old," said Iggy as he turned around.

"Cool," said Roy with a little uncertainty. He looked around the group, hoping that someone else would say something and fill him in on why this discovery held such importance. When no one did, he swallowed his pride and braced for embarrassment. "Uh, what exactly does that mean?"

Ludwig flashed Roy a filthy look, and Roy was certain that he was going to insult him, or worse, shock him again. Thankfully, Iggy spoke up before that could happen.

"Well, this kingdom holds a census every four years," said Iggy. "Considering that we just had our last census two months ago, that means there was a census right around the time this photograph was taken. That means we should be able to find Singe's name and address in the records if we do some searching."

"Okay, but that still doesn't provide us with much help," said Wendy. "It could take us forever to find the census records and go through all of that information."

"That would be true," said Iggy with a grin, "if we had to search through the books. Thankfully, that won't be necessary, because over the summer I have taken the time to enter the data from the last fifty censuses into my computer. Finding the information that we need will be a breeze." While he said this, Iggy turned around and started entering some information into the search engine. Roy leaned over and whispered to Lemmy:

"Yeesh. I never thought I'd say this, but thank goodness Iggy's a nerd, am I right?" This got him a well meaning but tough elbowing by Wendy.

"Okay," Iggy said after a generous amount of searching. "It appears that twenty years ago, there were ten koopas with the first name Singe."

"Ten? Just ten? That doesn't sound so bad," said Lemmy.

"I wouldn't speak so soon," said Iggy. "Let's take a look at the last census." He typed some more information into the search engine and pulled up another page. The screen lit up like a fireworks display with highlighted names.

"Just as I thought," said Iggy. "The number has dramatically increased in that timespan of twenty years."

"How many Singes were there this time around?" asked Larry.

Iggy turned around and smiled. He let the silence hang in the air so that the suspense could build.

"Infinity," said Iggy.

Roy nearly reeled over when he heard that.

"What? Infinity?" he shouted. "How are we going to find Celia's dad if there are that many Singes lying around?"

Iggy laughed.

"I was just kidding Roy," he said. "That isn't mathematically possible. There are actually five hundred and fifty two."

Roy stopped. He didn't like being embarrassed because of mistakes like this.

"Right," he said. "I knew that."

Iggy and Ludwig nodded; Iggy still had a grin on his face while Ludwig looked a little incredulous. Roy seriously considered going into his shell so that he wouldn't be subject to embarrassment anymore.

"It's amazing, really," Iggy said. "I have done research on the name a few years ago as part of a little project of mine. Half a century ago it was just a synonym for burn and was not used as a name for koopas at all. Now, if you were to look at a modern day graph, you would see that there was a major elevation in the use of.."

"Uh, no offense Iggy, but we don't really care about that," Wendy said.

"Yeah, all that I am interested in at the moment is finding my dad," said Celia. "Can you do a run through of the censuses and see which Singes show up in both of them?"

Iggy's mouth curled and his eyes drooped into an expression of disappointment. He reluctantly turned back toward his computer and input some more data into the search engine. Roy felt sorry for Iggy, but only a little; Iggy's rants about subjects could be insanity inducing. Iggy sat in front of the computer for a moment or two before he turned around, a completely new list occupying the shining screen.

"Alright," he said a little indifferently, "I've compiled the list and can print it out for you. There are some interesting names on it: Dullblade, Blueybakedalaska, Potatoes…"

"Are there exactly ten?" Celia asked.

"No, they're are eight," said Iggy. "One of them, Smartalecklee, has passed away in the fall of last year. And another one, Marksmite, didn't show up in the census at all. No death records, no records of change of residence, nothing. He seems to have gone off the grid. If you like, I can give you the address belonging to their relatives."

Celia nodded and shrugged.

"Yeah, I don't see why not," she said. Iggy copied the names onto a document and sent that document to his printer. Roy glanced at Celia.

"Sooo...are we just gonna go from door to door of these different people?" he asked.

"Yeah," Celia said. "Is there a problem with that?"

"No, I just thought you had a different plan, that's all," Roy said.

Celia raised an eyebrow.

"And what plan do you think that would be?" she asked.

Roy shrugged. He hadn't taken the time to think about it.

"I don't know," he said. "Do I look like the person who comes up with plans around here?"

Celia smiled slightly at this remark, and Lemmy started jumping up and down.

"Ooh, I know what you guys can do!" he said. "Why don't you send these guys emails?"

Celia looked from Lemmy to the computer and snorted.

"Yeah, I'm sure that would work," she said sarcastically. "'Attention Singes, my name is Celia and there is a possibility that one of you is my father. Please meet me in a dark alleyway so that I may proceed with beating the living daylights out of you. PS thanks for abandoning me.' I mean, who would respond to that?"

"I don't know," said Larry with a grin on his face. "I think there might be one or two street fighters who would respond to that email."

"Or professional wrestlers," Ludwig said in a caustic tone. Wendy and Lemmy stifled back laughter as Iggy went to his printer and handed the list to Celia.

"Here you go," said Iggy. "Are you sure that you want to go through this plan? After all, interrupting someone's private life to beat them up seems a bit intrusive."

Celia wasn't listening; she was too busy examining the list. If she had been listening, she would have agreed with Iggy; however, her anger was still present. Part of her didn't want it; she hated how it was burrowing into her. It was like a parasitic worm that existed on a diet of everything positive in her life. Part of her believed that doing this to her father would relieve her of the burden, even though morally she knew that it was far from right.

"Hmm," she said with her eyes on the list. "The Marksmites appear to have the closest address. So it looks we'll be visiting them first." She folded the list up and put it in her pocket. "You ready to head out, Roy?"

Roy stumbled in shock.

"What? You want to go now?" he asked in a loud tone. Celia gave him a questioning look.

"Yeah," she said. "Why wouldn't we?"

"Well," Roy began, and was cut off by the rumbling of his stomach. "I was wondering if we could get some breakfast first?"

Celia glanced at the Koopalings, who shrugged and gave her smiles. She sighed.

"Fine," she said. Roy breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good," he said. "I know the perfect place where we can eat, too."

Celia nodded her head, her mouth in a thin, curved line. Not wanting to waste anymore time, she headed toward the door of the lab and climbed up the stairs. When she reached the top, she turned around and gave a smile to the Koopalings.

"Bye you guys," she said. "It was nice going on an adventure with you."

"Yeah," said Lemmy. "It sure was fun."

"We're going to miss you," said Wendy.

"We sure will," said Roy as he stared dreamily at Celia up on the steps. The Koopalings exchanged looks with one another and Ludwig rolled his eyes.

"Uh, Roy," said Iggy while he put his hand on Roy's shoulder, "you're going with her."

"Oh," said Roy. "Right." Roy joined Celia at the top of the stairs.

"Okay," he said with an embarrassed smile. "Well, I'll see you guys later." With that, Celia and Roy headed out.


	15. Chapter 15 The Springiest Fling

Chapter 15 The Springiest Fling

There are twenty towns and five cities in the Koopa Kingdom. Each town has on average ten different restaurants, and the cities have an average of twenty. That means there are about six hundred restaurants in the valley that is the Koopa Kingdom. Some of them are of higher quality than others. There is one restaurant in the Koopa capital called Sky Sparkle Steakhouse, which is infamous for needing a reservation two years in advance. Not only do they serve the best steak, but at night they open the roof so one can eat their meal underneath a fireworks show that the restaurant puts on.

While Roy could have gotten into the Sky Sparkle Steakhouse immediately due to him being well known, he didn't take that route. Instead, he traveled to a small town near the castle and took Celia to a place called the Spring Fling Diner.

"Don't you love this place?" Roy asked when they walked through the door. "This has got to be my favorite restaurant in the whole kingdom."

Celia looked around. The place was wretched. The tables were a sickley puce, and there were no windows at all. That was a shame because the room was in desperate need of sunlight. The dim lighting seemed to attract lowlife thugs, as one occupied every table, sipping black coffee. The floors were caked with grime and littered with garbage of every kind imaginable, which made the place smell like a dumpster.

"I don't know," said Celia. "I think that this might be a downgrade from the sewer."

Roy just laughed.

"Oh, it looks awful, sure," he said as the two of them took a seat at the bar. "But trust me, it has some of the best food you've ever tasted."

Roy got a menu and started reading. Celia did the same.

"I notice that all of the dishes contain poison mushrooms," said Celia disapprovingly.

"I know," said Roy, "that's what makes them so good." He burrowed his face deeper into the menu. "I wonder if I should get the poison mushroom blueberry pancakes or the poison mushroom and spinach omelette?" He turned his head toward the bucktooth waitress who stood with her order booklet, then back to the menu. "Oh what the heck, I'll just get them both." He grinned at the waitress, who turned to Celia. Celia looked a little frightened and disgusted.

"I'll just have water," she said nervously as the waitress walked toward the kitchen. If the dining area looked like a nuclear wasteland, Celia didn't want to imagine what the kitchen looked like.

"So," Celia said, "while we are here there is something that I want to talk about."

"Okay," said Roy. "What do you want to talk about?"

"You know how you called me your girlfriend when we were coming up to my mom's house?" Celia asked.

"Sure," said Roy.

"And when you told my mom about it, you said that it was awkward and you never wanted to talk about it again?" Celia continued.

Roy felt his stomach drop.

"Oh," he said. "That."

Celia started twirling her fork around on the countertop. Roy started twiddling his thumbs.

"Why did you say that?" Celia asked with the slightest tinge of offense in her voice. "Do you not want to get together? Is that it? Because I would imagine that you would want to get together after you said that you like me and described all the things that you wanted to do for me."

"And all of those things were true!" Roy stated. "I do want to take you to the beach and make your dreams come true. I just figured that if we ever do get together, it should be sometime in the future. After all, we still don't know a whole lot about each other."

Celia looked down at her lap.

"But the way you said it made it sound like you never wanted to get together," she said. "It sounded like the very idea repulsed you."

"Repulsed?" Roy asked.

"That means grossed out," Celia said. "I mean, when you said that…"

Celia stopped. Roy waited to see if she was going to finish her sentence. When she didn't, he spoke up.

"When I said that what?" he asked. Celia sat up straight in her chair.

"When you said that, I thought that you didn't want to go out with me because I'm a hybrid," she said. Roy gapped at Celia.

"What?! Celia, I like that you're a hybrid," he said.

Celia's eyes shined and grew to twice their normal size.

"Really?" she asked in surprise.

"Yeah, are you kidding? I think it makes you unique. It makes you one of a kind."

Celia scoffed.

"Yeah, well, my uniqueness hasn't exactly brought me the best fortune," she said.

"Okay, why do you say stuff like that?" Roy asked. "Celia, do you like that you're half human?"

Celia laughed.

"Well," she said. "I've been bullied a lot because of what I am, and I've had to live in the sewer to avoid the people who…"

"I'm not asking you what other people think about what you are," Roy interrupted. "I'm asking what you think about it."

Celia was silent. Roy stared at her as she contemplated what he said. He wondered if she really didn't like what she was, and he felt sorry for her. He felt confident in his own skin, and couldn't remember a time when he didn't. He couldn't relate to someone being so unhappy with themself that they felt the need to hide. Because from his perspective, that looked like what Celia was doing.

"I…" said Celia.

Suddenly the door to the kitchen opened and out came the waitress, carrying their food. She presented Roy with his pancakes and omelette and Celia with her water.

"Oh," said Roy. "Thank you."

The waitress grunted in response and stomped back to the kitchen. Roy chuckled.

"That's what I like about this place," he said as he cut his omelette and shoved it in his mouth. "The service is great."

Celia just nodded.

"So what's the answer?" Roy asked as he started on his pancakes. Celia took a sip of her water.

"I don't know," she said at last. The sad part is that she meant it. The bullying that she had endured had more of an impact on her than she realized. At this point, she didn't know if she was living in the sewer because of other people or because of herself. When she was younger, she was happy to say she was different. Now she wasn't so sure.

"You don't know?" Roy asked. "How can you not know something like that about yourself?"

"I guess...I just...I don't know," Celia said.

"Okay, am I getting deja vu?" Roy asked. "Because it seems like you're repeating yourself."

Celia chuckled.

"Celia, when I said I like you, I meant it," Roy said as he held Celia's hand. "And that includes every part of you." Roy stopped holding Celia's hand and put his hands on his lap. "Look, I'm sorry if you got the impression that I never want to go out with you. I wasn't thinking when I said what I said. In case you haven't noticed, that happens a lot."

Celia nodded as she took another gulp of water.

"Yeah," she said with a smile. "I've noticed."

Roy smiled.

"So you know what I mean when I say that I'm a little bit of a moron," he said playfully.

Celia snorted.

"A little bit?" she asked. Roy laughed.

"Okay," he said. "Maybe I'm a big moron."

"There you go," Celia said with a playful smile.

Roy looked into Celia's face. He felt extremely lucky. He was going on another adventure with a girl he liked. Not only that, but he was doing it with none of his siblings present. He appreciated that fact. He felt that if they were here, they would just make things awkward.

"Okay," Roy said. "You've finished your water. Are you ready to go see the Marksmites?"

"Oh, I've always been ready," said Celia. "But you haven't finished your pancakes and omelette."

Roy looked at the omelette, which had only two bites taken out of it, and the double stack of pancakes, which was half eaten. Taking his fork, he started cramming the food into his mouth. With about three bites per second, Celia was worried that he was going to choke. Thankfully, that didn't happen.

"There," said Roy once both plates were cleared. "All gone. Now let's go."

"Impressive," said Celia with a concerned look on her face. "But are you going to be okay?"

"Oh yeah," said Roy as he started to look a little green. "I'll be..." Roy covered his mouth with his fist as he felt a sudden wave of nausea..."fine."

With that, the two of them headed out the door.


	16. Chapter 16 The Marksmites

Chapter 16 The Marksmites

It took Celia and Roy a half hour to get to the Marksmite's house. They would have arrived sooner, but Roy was hit by a wave of nausea and they had to stop. Luckily, they only lost about five minutes, and they managed to get back on track fairly quickly afterwards. When they arrived at the house, Roy was feeling as fit as a fiddle.

"It's a good thing we managed to find a bathroom on the way here," Celia said as they walked up the path to the Marksmite's house.

"Sure was," said Roy. "I just wish that place had some mint gum on standby."

"It did Roy," said Celia. "You just weren't willing to pay for it."

"Hey, ten coins for one pack?" said Roy. "That's a little outrageous, don't you think."

_Said the talking turtle wearing pink sunglasses_, thought Celia.

Roy went up to the Marksmite's door and banged on it. It was opened by an elderly koopa woman with fading pink hair, a light pink shell, and a pair of oven mitts on. She looked pleasantly surprised to see Roy at the door.

"My goodness!" she said. "It's Roy Koopa! What an honor it is to meet…"

The woman's eyes fell on Celia, and her expression shifted from pleasing and happy to angry and hateful.

...you."

Roy didn't notice the woman's shift in facial expression. He was just glad that someone was happy to meet him, so he gave her a cheery and suave smile.

"Hi," he said charmingly. "Are you Mavery Marksmite?"

The woman nodded, her eyes locked on Celia and scorching with hate.

"As you know, I'm Roy Koopa, and this is my friend, Celia. We want to talk to you and your hubby about your son, Singe."

Mavery still had her eyes on Celia, but at the mention of Singe her expression shifted back to a smile and she looked back at Roy.

"Oh, sure, sure," she said a little quietly. Celia and Roy entered the house, and as they did Celia heard Mavery mutter something under her breath.

"Filthy human. Has to come into my house and get my carpet all dirty."

Celia felt stunned. It wasn't the worst insult she had ever heard, but it was the first insult she had heard come from an adult. She felt a little bit of anger starting to form, as well as some discomfort as she sat down in an armchair.

"Hold on just a minute while I get my husband," said Mavery, and she left the room. Roy and Celia got a whiff of sugar cookies in the air, and on the mantle they could see pictures of Mavery and her husband when they were younger. They looked euphoric as they did mundane activities such as eat dinner, paint the house, and walk their pet yoshi.

Mavery came back with her husband. He looked almost exactly the same as he did in the pictures, with baby blue hair, a baby blue shell, a slim build, dimples, and oval shaped eyes. They only difference was that he had wrinkles around his eyes and dimples.

"This is my husband, Saliday," said Mavery. "Saliday, this is Roy Koopa and…" Mavery's brow scrunched up…"Celia."

Saliday gave Roy and Celia a beaming smile.

"It's very nice to meet you both," he said warmly. "It is not often that we get visitors."

Saliday sat down on the couch, and Mavery sat next to him. Celia could tell that Mavery was trying to look civil, because she put on a fake smile.

"So," Saliday said. "What do you want to talk about?"

"They came to talk about Singe, sweetie," Mavery said as she patted Saliday's lap.

"Oh, that's right," he said. "Well, that's certainly an interesting subject of conversation."

"How come?" asked Celia.

"Well, you see, Singe has had a little falling out with us," Saliday said as Mavery's expression darkened.

"That's right," Mavery added. "We haven't talked to or about Singe in years."

"Do you know where he lives?" Roy asked. "Because he didn't appear in the last census."

Saliday and Mavery shook their heads.

"No idea," Mavery said.

"It wouldn't be very likely that he would tell us," Saliday said with a laugh, "considering that he never was a big communicator. He didn't even tell us he lost his baby teeth so he could get money from the tooth fairy."

Celia laughed politely. She was already on thin ice with Mavery and wanted to be as nice as possible to them.

"What..what was the fight you had about?" she asked.

Saliday's face fell. Mavery looked dark and angry.

"Singe…" Saliday began.

"Singe did something that we view as deplorable," said Mavery. "We had a big fight, and he hasn't been to see us since. And even if he did come back, I surely won't welcome him back in, that's for sure."

Celia took a deep breath and pulled out the photo of her father from her pocket.

"Does this happen to be Singe by any chance?" she asked as she showed them the picture.

Mavery and Saliday looked at the photograph.

"Yes, that's Singe," said Saliday.

Celia felt a lump form in her throat. Roy became restless.

"How in the Mushroom World did you get that picture?" asked Mavery.

The lump in Celia's throat become bigger. Now there was no going back.

"I got this from my mother," she said. "She had it because Singe is my father."

Saliday looked stunned. Mavery's expression hardened to become so hateful and angry that Celia had trouble looking her in the eye.

"So you're the abomination," Mavery said scornfully.

Celia felt as small as an ant. She had been called some pretty nasty stuff in the past, but she had never been called an abomination.

"Mavery…" Saliday said cajolingly.

"I can't believe I welcomed you into my house," Mavery said, "and let you sit in my chair."

Celia felt the need to say something.

"Excuse me," she said, "but I am not an abomination."

"Oh, you're not?" Mavery said with malice in your voice. She laughed, a chilling and bitter sound. "You know, Singe told me the same thing. He said that he would protect you and stand by you no matter what. But I guess he changed his mind about that, didn't he?"

Celia felt like she'd been stabbed. Roy felt angry too.

"And I suppose you're going to say that you were accepted by everybody you met, right?" Mavery continued on.

Celia hung her head.

"No," she said. "I was not."

Mavery scoffed.

"Well," she said. "I suppose that says it all."

Celia felt angry at this woman. No, she felt angry at her grandmother, the only grandmother she had ever met. She wanted to punch her. She was going on this adventure just so she could punch her father; however, she wasn't going to punch Mavery. She was going to fight her.

"You're right," Celia said. "Not everybody I met accepted me with open arms. But you know what? That's alright. I don't care. There are some times when it is best to be someone who isn't accepted."

"Exactly," said Roy as he got up from his chair. Celia and Mavery looked at him in surprise. "If everybody was doing something wrong, and you were the only one doing something right, would being accepted by everyone else for changing what you're doing be right? No, it wouldn't. People should accept you for doing the right thing, not for doing the thing that they think is cool."

Mavery started stuttering.

"Well...well...that only concerns what people do," she said. "Should you accept someone if they are the wrong thing?"

Roy laughed.

"Is there really a definition to 'the wrong thing?'" he asked. "We all have special characteristics that make us unique, whether it be appearance, personality, habits, or people we love."

Mavery looked angry.

"Well, there are somethings that people should just not do," she said. "And a koopa having a child with a human is one of them."

Now Roy looked angry.

"You know when you say that, you insult your own granddaughter, right?" he said. "For your information, I happen to think that Celia is awesome, and there are some people who would agree with me. And that has nothing to do with her being a hybrid; it's just who she is. But while we're on that subject…" Roy turned to Celia and smiled… "I think that is something that sets her apart from everyone else. It makes her unique." Roy turned back to Mavery, the smile gone. "So don't go bad mouthing Celia because of something that she can't control. That is just not cool."

Mavery's brow darkened and her eyes alone could kill with their gaze. She opened her mouth, as if to say something different. Then…

"I think I smell my cookies burning," she said, and exited the room. Saliday watched her leave and turned back to Celia and Roy, looking stunned.

"Celia," he said, "I am so sorry about that. I was not expecting that at all."

"No, it's okay," Celia said. She didn't really mean it though; she honestly felt like leaving too.

"No, it's not," said Saliday. "Look, you deserve the truth about what happened during the fight." Saliday glanced at Roy. "Excuse me, Mr. Roy, but would you mind stepping out of the room?"

Roy was about to leave when Celia stopped him.

"No Roy, stay," she said. "Saliday, I want him to hear this."

Saliday looked at Roy. Then he sighed.

"Alright then," he said. "It all started one day when Singe came to us. Now, one thing that you have to know is that Singe has always liked humans. When he was a little kid, he wanted to go to a human school. Now, Mavery and I weren't too fond of that. We thought that it was an interest he shouldn't have, so we tried to...get it out of him, let's put it that way."

"Get it out of him?" asked Roy.

"Yes," said Saliday. "You should know that Mavery and I weren't...um, the biggest fans of humans back then. And as you've probably guessed, Mavery still isn't a big fan of humans. Anyway, Singe came to us and said that he was going to have a baby with a human. Mavery and I didn't respond well at all. I in particular got very angry and...said some things that I have come to regret."

"What did you say?" Roy asked. Saliday looked regretful.

"I'd...I'd rather not say to you two," he said. "But as you can imagine, Singe didn't take it very well. He said that he was never coming back and he never wanted to see me again."

The three of them sat in silence. Saliday looked like he was replaying the scene in his mind, reliving every horrible detail. Roy was the first to speak up.

"I'm sorry about that," he said.

"Don't be," said Saliday. "It's my fault. I should have kept my mouth shut. Maybe if I had…"

The regretful and painful look in Saliday's eyes strengthened. He looked like he was about to say something, but thought better of it.

"I wish I could tell you where Singe is now," said Saliday. "But there is one piece of useful information I can give."

That got Celia and Roy's attention. They leaned forward so that they could catch what Saliday had to say.

"A few years after the fight, Singe appeared before Lord Bowser," he said. "It was a very well known story at the time and it spread all over the kingdom."

Celia leaned forward. Excitement and curiosity were taking hold of her.

"He appeared before Bowser?" she asked. "Why? Was he being sentenced? Was he making a request of some kind?"

"I'm not sure," Saliday said. "I don't remember all of the details. But I do remember that Singe ended up losing his right arm because of it."

Celia and Roy gasped.

"He what?" Roy said.

"He lost his arm?" Celia asked.

"He did," Saliday said. "He ended up getting a prosthetic limb made for him by Iggy Koopa."

Roy thought about this. So Iggy was right; he had met Singe. Did this mean that the others had met him as well? Did Singe interact with him at some point?

"But that still doesn't answer the question why Singe went before Bowser," Celia said.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't give you that information," said Saliday. "If you want to know anything, I think the best place to start would be talking to Iggy."

Roy nodded.

"Alright," Roy said. "Thank you, Mr. Marksmite."

"Yes, thank you...grandfather," said Celia.

Saliday smiled and said goodbye as Roy and Celia exited the house.


	17. Chapter 17 The Starbite Society

Chapter 17 The Starbite Society

From the Marksmite's house, Celia and Roy walked to the nearest payphone. Neither one of them had a cellphone and they were desperate to talk to Iggy. They had so much to tell him and so much to ask him. They knew that he couldn't remember a lot from the time that he had made the arm for Singe, but they wanted him to tell them what he did remember. They were also anxious to tell him about what happened with Celia's grandparents.

It took half an hour for the two of them to find a payphone, as they were very rare. The Koopa Kingdom was rapidly advancing in technology and was undoubtedly the most advanced kingdom in the Mushroom World, mostly thanks to Iggy. Twenty years before, the realm didn't even know what can openers were; now scientists were trying to build advanced technology such as robotic limbs.

Anyway, Celia and Roy eventually found a payphone, and when they did an argument arose.

"I think I should be the first to talk to Iggy," said Roy. "I have the money for the phone after all."

"Well, I just met my grandparents for the first time," said Celia. "I think I'll have more to talk about."

Roy stared at Celia. He tried to look intimidating, but was unable considering that his eyes were covered by sunglasses. Celia put her hand over her mouth to hide a smile.

"I know," said Roy after staring Celia down. "Why don't we do rock paper scissors?"

Celia nodded.

"Sure," she said. "I don't see why not."

Roy and Celia did one round of rock paper scissors. Roy got scissors. Celia got rock. When he lost, Roy chuckled with embarrassment.

"Best of three?" he asked. Celia glared at him, causing him to hand over the money for the phone.

"Hello?" Iggy's voice rang out from the other end of the line.

"Hey, Iggy," said Celia. "Guess what? Roy and I visited the Marksmite's first, and they turned out to be my grandparents."

Iggy gasped.

"You're kidding," he said. "You guys had nine houses to visit. The possibility of you meeting your relatives first was approximately eleven percent."

There was a weird noise on the other end, as if the phone was being forcefully snatched out of Iggy's hands.

"And yes, he did just come up with that number on the spot," said Larry's voice. Celia giggled a little at the thought of Iggy giving Larry a death stare over this.

"Anyway," said Iggy once he had the phone back in his hands, "how did that go? You met your grandparents for the first time, I assume that was exciting."

Celia cast a sideways glance at Roy. He responded to the look by giving her a puzzled one.

"What?" he asked. "Do I have something on my face?"

Celia mouthed the word no as she shook her head. Then she returned to the phone.

"Well, I guess you could say that," Celia said. "Personally, I'd call the visit 'infuriating' beyond anything else."

"Uh oh," said Iggy. "What happened?"

"Oh, my grandmother was just a jerk, that's all," Celia said. She forced out a laugh. "It's easy to see where my dad got it from."

"Well, I'm sorry that you had to deal with that," Iggy said in a sympathetic tone. "I know I wouldn't want my first interaction with my grandmother to play out that way."

Celia sighed.

"Yeah," she said. Wanting to cut to the chase, she cleared her throat. "But the visit wasn't entirely bad. I did get some useful information from my grandfather."

"Really?" Iggy asked. "What is that?"

"Well, for starters," Celia said, "it turns out you were right about you building a robotic arm for Singe. And Roy and I want you to tell us all that you can remember regarding the event. I do know that Singe appeared before Bowser right before he lost the arm. What was that about?"

"Oh man, you had to ask me," said Iggy. "Well, from what I can remember…"

Celia stopped paying attention because she was hit by a sudden wave of fatigue. She glanced at Roy, and noticed that he was yawning. He also had his sunglasses off and was rubbing his eyes. At first, Celia assumed they were just tired because they didn't get a lot of sleep the night before. Then she noticed that there was a dark blue fog forming in the air and she began to panic. What was going on? Did she and Roy wander into some sort of poisonous gas?

"Iggy!" she said. "I think...I think…"

She couldn't say another word; the fatigue was too empowering. Her eyes became heavy, her legs gave out from under her, and she fell asleep.

….

As Celia started to come back around, she noticed that there were whispers surrounding her. She tried to open her eyes, to move her legs, but was unable to; they were too heavy. Fear filled her heart. Was she paralyzed? Had the gas made her unable to move her body?

After a few minutes, however, she was able to flutter her eyelids. With effort, she managed to open them, lift her head, and look around. She saw that she was underground in a room of sorts. There were candles lining the outer walls, giving the place a dim lighting. Surrounding her were koopas of all shapes, sizes, ages, and ethnicities. In the group she could see a few koopa troopas, some koopa paratroopas, and a lakitu among the plethora of common koopas. Celia looked to her right, and saw that Roy was still sleeping like a statue. Exerting all the energy she had at her disposal, she got on her knees and started shaking him. This caused Roy to stir.

"Wha?" he asked groggily. "Where are we?"

"SILENCE!" bellowed a strong and powerful voice. The throng of koopas cleared to make way for who had spoken. Celia and Roy looked to see a magikoopa wearing a navy blue robe and an aggressive scowl.

"I am Kamark," said the magikoopa, "founder of the Starbite Society. If you wish to see the light of day again, I suggest that you both keep your mouths shut."

Celia and Roy exchanged looks. The Starbite Society? They had both heard about it but they thought it was an urban legend, one that koopas told their kids to keep them in their beds at night. The Starbite Society was one of the most powerful gangs in the kingdom. Its members consisted entirely of koopas who had the titular starbite. Starbites were a type of birthmark that some koopas had, and as the name suggested it was shaped like a star. Both Morton and Larry had starbites; Morton had a particularly large one over his left eye and Larry had one on the back of his head.

Roy began to feel nervous. He had a starbite on the bottom of his right foot. But did Celia have one? He didn't know. He wasn't sure what the Society would do to her if she didn't have a starbite, but considering their reputation he imagined that it would be

pretty gruesome.

"You have trespassed on the Society's property," said Kamark. "For that, you must show us your starbites. If you don't have one, you will pay severely."

Roy gulped as Kamark walked up to him. Trembling, he held up his right foot. Kamark examined the purple starbite and nodded with approval. He then directed his attention toward Celia, and Roy's fear escalated. He did his best to hide it, but inwardly he was praying that Celia somehow had a starbite. Kamark eyed her.

"Well," he said. "I don't suppose that you have the birthmark of the _koopa _race, do you?"

Roy started to shake. _Please say you do, please say you do,_ he wanted to say.

Celia looked Kamark in the eyes. A moment of silence hung in the air. Roy felt like crying.

_She doesn't have one!_ he thought. _What's going to happen to her?_

Celia continued to stare at Kamark. Then she smiled.

"Actually," she said, "I do have a starbite."

Roy's fear ran away and surprise took its place. Kamark looked just as taken aback.

"Really?" he said. "Well then let's see it."

Celia removed her hoodie. Underneath she wore a peach colored tank top. And there, on her left arm, was a starbite. It was orange and it had a red border. The members of the Society began to whisper amongst themselves, and Kamark viewed it skeptically. He waved his wand over it, trying to detect a forgery. He came back up with a shocked look on his face.

"It's real," he said. "It's not a tattoo."

The whispering grew to chattering. The Society gathered around Celia, eager to get a glance of her starbite. Kamark leaned toward her with curiosity and shock plastered on his face.

"H...how?" he asked. "How is this even remotely possible?"

Celia was about to answer but Kamark cut her off.

"No, I don't think I'll be able to trust your answer," he said as he held up his wand. "I need to probe your mind."

Celia felt a little nervous, but she nodded. She had never had her mind probed before, but she had heard that it was relatively painless and magikoopas did it in a way that prevented them from obtaining a person's deepest, most private secrets. They only got information related to what they were searching for. So, Celia let Kamark chant his spell.

"_Hartwall Mickidee observus stac."_

The end of Kamark's wand lit up and he held it over Celia's forehead. Roy leaned forward to get a closer look, but it only looked like Kamark was holding a black light above Celia's eyes. Roy couldn't see anything happening, but apparently Kamark could, because after two minutes the light turned off and he turned back to the Society. There was a large, impressed smile on his face.

"Well," he said proudly, "I have seen a lot of amazing things in the ten years that I've been a part of the Starbite Society. I've seen Monty Moles steal paratroopa wings and use them to fly. I've seen a spike who could eat food and spit it up as a fully functional toaster oven. But I can't say that I've seen anything or anyone like Celia."

Celia began to feel sweat form on her back, and she didn't know if it was due to fear or embarrassment.

"Formed from a union that many have deemed impossible," Kamark continued, "she has endured more than most in the short time that she has been alive, when she should be respected."

"Why is that, Kamark?" asked a koopa paratroopa.

"Because," Kamark said, "she is a hybrid; human on her mother's side, koopa on her father's."

The group began to chatter again, but Kamark held up his hand.

"You know, we think that we are special because of a mere birthmark," he said. "But this young lady is special not just because of her ancestry, but because of her grit, toughness, and perseverance. She had to endure everything from bullying to heartbreak to long term deception, yet she still remains pure of character."

Celia suddenly felt ashamed. Clearly Kamark hadn't done enough digging if he thought that she was "pure of character." She was vengeful, spiteful, and prone to being self centered. As much as she liked being praised in this way, she didn't know if it was entirely truthful; however, she had no intention of correcting Kamark either. She didn't know if it was because of fear or because of an inflated ego, but whatever the reason she decided to keep her mouth shut.

"And for that," Kamark said as he turned around, "I'd like to make her an honorary member of our clan." Kamark helped Celia to her feet and smiled. "Welcome to the Starbite Society, Celia Patch." He turned toward Roy. "You too, Roy Koopa."

Roy got to his feet and beamed. The Society wasn't going to punish them! That was a relief. He went up to Celia and put his hand on her back.

"Thanks a lot...uhhh, whatever you said your name was," said Roy. "I've always thought it's be cool to join a gang."

Celia got a bizarre look on her face. Kamark chuckled.

"Well, I believe that this gang will provide you with a good experience," he said, and turned to face the group. "It is nearing lunch time. I believe that we should get our new members acquainted with our ritual of monty mole hunting."


	18. Chapter 18 Be Quiet I'm Hunting Monties

Chapter 18 Be Quiet; I'm Hunting Monties

The Starbite Society brought Celia and Roy back to the surface. They were all in a good mood, although you couldn't tell by looking at some of them. They were acting aggressive, trying to get themselves riled up. In addition to that, almost all of them were carrying slingshots. Considering that a majority of the group consisted of teenagers, they looked like they were about to go hurling stones at cans or birds.

Celia looked at the group. She had been feeling a little nervous ever since Kamark had used the term "monty mole hunting." She had heard rumors concerning why the Starbite Society hunted monties and what they did with them. Celia started to feel sick to her stomach. She hoped that the rumors weren't true. If they were, and the Society did the horrible things to the moles that were said, then Celia didn't want to have anything to do with them.

"We're almost to the site," Kamark announced to the group. "Make sure you stay on your guard."

Roy began to have the same questioning feelings that Celia had. He went up to Kamark and tapped him on the shoulder.

"What exactly are we doing?" he asked. Kamark chortled.

"You'll see," he said. "Oh, you both are going to need weapons." He waved his wand, and a bullet bill blaster and a fire flower appeared. "Keep a good hold of them. We never know what could meet us when we do this."

Roy stared at the bullet bill blaster. These weapons were notable for weighing at least one hundred pounds, and that did not include the bullet bills that were put inside. Most people couldn't dream of lifting such a monstrosity let alone using it. Roy, however, worked out regularly, so he was strong enough to do just that. In amazement, he hoisted the blaster onto his shoulders.

"How did you know I like to use these?" he asked. Kamark chuckled.

"Just because I live underground doesn't mean I don't have ways of keeping up with the royal family," he said.

Roy felt stupid. He lived with Bowser; of course people were bound to know details about him. He remembered that Celia pointed this out to him when they first met, and he felt even stupider.

"We're here!" Kamark announced.

Roy and Celia looked around. The place was a field that was full of humongous dirt mounds and numerous holes. Celia and Roy recognized the mounds as monty mole nests. Like ants, termites, and bees, monty moles were animals that lived in colonies.

"Search the holes!" said Kamark. "And remember, we don't want to come out empty handed!"

The Society began to scan and dig through the holes. Roy and Celia watched them and their nervousness began to escalate into fear. What exactly were they doing?

"I found one!" yelled one of the Society members from across the way. Kamark, Celia, and Roy went over to the hole and looked inside. There, quivering fearfully, was a baby monty mole. It had golden brown hair and was small enough to fit into Celia's palm. It also had a bunch of cuts and gashes. Kamark smiled as he took the monty mole out of the hole.

"A fine specimen," he said. "What do you think, Boris? Release or domestication?"

"Oh I don't know," said the koopa troopa who found the mole. "I think we should see how it deals with our nursing first."

"Good idea," said Kamark. Celia felt confused.

"Wait," she said. "Domestication?"

Kamark nodded his head.

"Yep," he said. "You see, when the Society first formed, there were a bunch of monty moles that burrowed their way into our hideout. We didn't have a problem with them though; in fact, we quite enjoyed their company. However, five years ago the monty moles stopped coming. We went to investigate, and saw that their nests had been attacked by piranha plants. Most of the moles ended up leaving, and those who didn't...well, they ended reproducing. The only problem is that the babies aren't strong enough to handle the attacks. So, we ended up 'hunting them down' so to speak and nursing them back to health."

"And you ended up turning them into pets?" Celia asked.

"Or releasing them back into the wild once they are strong enough," Kamark said. "Depends on their strength, personality, and the bond we form with them."

Celia and Roy breathed sighs of relief.

"Oh good," said Celia. "I thought you did something much more gruesome to the moles."

"Yeah," said Roy. "I was starting to think that you…" Roy shuddered…"ate them."

"No, we don't eat them," said Kamark. "That's just a myth that is spread around about our gang. We aren't one hundred percent happy about it, but we also have no intention of dispelling it either. It helps to keep our reputation up."

Celia questioned why the gang would want such a reputation in the first place when a member called out from another hole. The three of them went over to the hole and looked inside. The scene was exactly the same as it had been with the last monty mole. The only difference was that there were roots blocking the entrance, making it impossible for the poor baby to escape. Kamark sighed and started tugging on the roots in an attempt to free the mole, but when he did a giant piranha plant sprouted out of the ground.

"Everyone!" Kamark called out to the Society. "We need your help! It's a big one this time around!"

The entire Society rushed over to the piranha plant. With their slingshots, they flung stones at the monster. The piranha plant retaliated by breathing fire at them, covering them in ash when they got hit. Kamark fired an arcane blast at the plant, but that only made it madder.

"Roy! Celia!" he said. "I'm going to need your help!"

Roy nodded and activated the bullet bill blaster. It fired red bullet bills, which meant that they would lock onto the desired target. The bills hit the base of the piranha plant, causing it to howl in pain.

"Finish this off, Celia!" Roy said.

Celia took the fire flower in her hand and ate it. It tasted like gasoline, but it had the desired effect. Her hoodie changed from black to white, and her pants turned a fire engine red. She hurled flaming hot fireballs at the piranha plant. While it could withstand the battering of the rocks, it could not withstand the heat of the fireballs. It withered away while howling miserably, and the roots that trapped the baby monty mole recoiled back into the ground. Celia smiled as the effects of the power up wore off.

"Well, there you have it," she said proudly.

Kamark thanked Roy and Celia and grabbed hold of the baby monty mole. After the Society had found three more moles, they went back to the their hideout. Kamark magically made some milk for them to drink and some gauze to patch up their wounds. As the Society took care of the babies, Kamark struck up a conversation with Celia and Roy.

"So," he said. "I assume that you were at that payphone for a reason? Most people are well aware of the fact that it is on our territory."

"Oh, it's a long story," said Celia.

"Yeah," said Roy. "We're looking for Celia's dad."

"Oh," said Kamark. "If you don't mind me asking, who exactly is your dad?"

"Singe Marksmite," said Celia.

Kamark's face lit up.

"Singe Marksmite!" he said. "You know, I knew him."

"You did?" asked Celia.

"Yes I did," said Kamark with a smile. "In fact, he and I were best friends


	19. Chapter 19 The Room Underground

Chapter 19 The Room Underground

"WHAT?" Celia said in shock. Roy just stared at Kamark. Considering that Singe's identity was surrounded in mystery, he hadn't been expecting him to be the kind of person who had friends.

"Yep," said Kamark. "He was a member of the Society, and a good one at that. He had a very beautiful starbite on the back of his neck." Kamark sighed nostalgically. "I wish that he had been around when we started going monty mole hunting. I think that he would have appreciated working for a good cause."

Celia looked at Roy. There was this gleam in her eyes that he couldn't really describe. Was that greed? Excitement? Wonder? Some magical combination of the three?

"Can you tell me more about him?" she asked Kamark.

"Oh, my words often fail me when I try to describe people's interests," he said. "I think that it would be much more effective if I showed you his room."

"He had a room?" Roy asked.

"All the members of the Society have their own rooms," said Kamark as he lead them to a passageway. "We've gotta have somewhere to sleep, you know?"

Kamark, Celia, and Roy strolled down the underground tunnel. There were rooms branching off from the main passageway. None of the rooms had doors, so Celia and Roy could see that all of them had beds and personal belongings in them.

"Here we are," said Kamark once they reached the end of the hall. "Since Singe was the only member to leave the Society and a dear friend of mine, I've kept this room untouched in order for us to remember him."

Celia and Roy looked above the doorway. Supporting Kamark's words was a shiny metal plaque that said "Singe Marksmite's room: only enter with the permission of Kamark." They respectfully entered the room, as if they were going to visit Singe's grave. They looked around, and saw that the room wasn't anything spectacular. There was a bunch of Christmas tree lights hung up near the ceiling, a pair of dumbbells lined up on a tray like shoes, a bed with nothing more than a knitted gray blanket, and a nightstand with a book on it.

"What's with the Christmas tree lights?" asked Roy.

"Oh, we decorated the hideout one year," said Kamark. "Singe liked the way that they looked so much that he wanted to keep them up all year round."

Celia glanced at the lights. She could relate to her father's logic. One of her earliest memories was her decorating the tree with her mom when she was four. She had thought it was gorgeous, with its twinkling lights and shiny plastic ornaments. She had been too young for her mom to use glass ornaments, so they used plastic instead. Celia had liked the tree so much that she had begged Ruby to keep it up all year round. Ruby had said no, so Celia had made a promise to herself right then and there that she would keep the tree up all the time in her own house.

Celia looked at the bed and felt the one gray blanket. It was made out of a scratchy and coarse yarn. Celia had never appreciated knitted products that felt like this. Why would someone want to wear something that makes them itchy enough to be diagnosed with a poison ivy rash? She never understood the appeal, even though everything her mother crocheted was made out of this kind of yarn.

Celia went to the bedside table and picked up the book. When she saw the title, her heart stopped. It was Mary Otter and the Not-So-Secret Antechamber. Celia couldn't believe that her father liked to read this book. It was her favorite book in the Mary Otter series. Actually, it just might be her favorite book period. She could remember her mom reading her a chapter a night, sometimes by candlelight to make her sleepier.

"Woah," said Roy. "Check out these weights."

Celia went over to where Roy was and examined the dumbbells. They varied in size, and Celia could see that the largest one weighed five hundred pounds. Celia's eyes grew wide and she turned to Kamark.

"Singe lifted these?" she asked.

"You'd better believe it," said Kamark. "Singe was very dedicated to staying in shape. His goal was to be able to eventually lift more than a thousand. He took an hour every day to lift weights." Kamarks face fell. "At least, he did until…"

"Until he lost his arm?" Celia finished the thought.

Kamark looked surprised. Then he nodded.

"Exactly," he said. Roy looked curious.

"Okay, why exactly did that happen?" he asked. "Because no one seems to remember all the details."

"Including you?" asked Kamark with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, I had a life back then, you know," Roy said. "I was too busy with other things to worry about politics and stuff like that."

"Like getting rejected by the girls on the playground?" Celia asked with a smile.

Roy turned and glared at her. Then he mumbled something under his breath that sounded like "I got you to like me, didn't I?"

"Well, I do remember all the details," Kamark said. "I said to you guys that I was the founder of the Starbite Society, but that wasn't entirely true. The more accurate term would be 'co-founder.' You see, my brother played a part in forming the gang. He and I had very different views on what the Society should do. I wanted to take a more pacifist approach, while my brother, Kam, wanted a more violent one. So, he ended up committing crimes. Unfortunately, he ended up going one step too far, and was brought before Bowser. Bowser sentenced him to death, and Singe…"

Kamark paused and shook his head.

"You know what? It just occurred to me that you would gain a better understanding if you got to see it. Have either of you heard of memory spheres?"

Roy nodded while Celia shook her head.

"Well," said Kamark, "a memory sphere is a magical orb that is used to see into people's memories. You can use it to hear the thoughts they had and experience what emotions they were going through during the exact moment you want to see. It is a very powerful piece of sorcery, and magic wands can only use them a certain amount of times. I have a memory sphere hidden in the mountains in World 6, and my wand has enough charge to use it three more times. Would you two like to come with me to use it?"

Celia and Roy exchanged a look. While Roy had heard of memory spheres before, he had always been hesitant to use them. The reason being is that he found the fact that someone could basically become a past version of you a little disturbing. Celia was a little unsettled by the concept too. She realized that there was a lot of privacy invasion involved in the use of a memory sphere. Should she do it?

Then Celia looked at Kamark, and she realized what kind of opportunity she would be passing up if she refused to use it. Kamark was giving her a chance to see into her father's thought process. She just had to do it.

"Okay," she said.

Kamark cast a glance at Roy, who nodded. Kamark grinned.

"Alright," he said, "then let's get going."


	20. Chapter 20 Memory Sphere

Chapter 20 Memory Sphere

Kamark, Roy, and Celia flew to World 6 on the back of Kamark's broom. Celia had a slight fear of heights, so flying wasn't exactly the most pleasant experience for her. The only reason why she had agreed to use the broom at all was because she knew that it would be faster than walking. Even so, she was doing her best to not look down and distracting herself by conversing with Kamark.

"So, Kamark," she said. "When we first stumbled upon the Society, you said that you would punish us if we didn't have starbites."

"Oh, that," said Kamark with a laugh. "Do you guys want to know a secret?"

"Sure," Celia and Roy said in unison.

"I wasn't really going to do anything to you," he said. "My only plan was to erase your memories so that you forgot you ever saw us and send you on your way."

"That's it?" asked Roy. "Well, that's not very menacing."

"It's not supposed to be," said Kamark. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not the menacing type."

"Then why do you run a menacing gang?" Roy asked.

"That's just reputation beyond anything else," Kamark replied as he steered the broom to the west.

"Okay, that's something that I don't get," said Celia. "Why would you want that reputation in the first place?"

There was a pause.

"We have our reasons," said Kamark. Celia scoffed.

"It just doesn't make any sense," she said. "I've lived in the sewer for the past six years because I have to avoid other people. And while I do enjoy the solitude and the simplicity of it, sometimes I wish I was either fully human or fully koopa so that I don't have to live as a hermit who is forced to burglarize people's houses in order to get her next meal."

Roy felt his heart sink. So that was how she was able to feed herself. Kamark sighed.

"Some people, like you Celia, do care about what society thinks as a whole. And while there is something to be said about being accepted and treated with respect, you should also understand that society is built on a foundation of sand. One of these days, it is going to be washed away like a sandcastle is washed away by the waves, and everyone who lets society define them is going to be washed away with it."

Celia and Roy didn't say anything after that. They just let Kamark control the broom in total silence. No one talked until the mountains came into view.

"We're almost there," Kamark announced. "The memory sphere is at the top of that mountain." Kamark pointed to the tallest mountain in view. Roy and Celia held tightly onto the broom as they started to ascend. The air started to grow thin, and the party had to huddle together as the temperature dropped. By the time they reached the top, everyone felt like they were going to pass out. Thankfully, Kamark had just the fix for such a situation.

"_Thermos oxygenus,"_ he said as he waved his wand. The air around them seemed to grow about forty degrees warmer, and they were now able to breathe with ease.

"Alright," said Kamark. "Here it is."

Celia and Roy looked and saw a crystal ball about the size of a bowling ball resting on a pillar. It was as clear as water, Roy and Celia could see their reflections if they looked through it. Kamark made them gather around the pillar then chanted a spell.

"_Observus pastel Singe punnyish_." The memory sphere started to glow with a soft purple light.

"Put our hands on the sphere," Kamark ordered Roy and Celia. Roy and Celia gave each other a look, did as Kamark instructed, and got sucked into the memory.

….

_I looked at Bowser with a pit in my stomach. There he was, the King of the Koopas himself. He looked even scarier in real life than he did in the pictures. Then again, that may just be because he smiles in the pictures. Right now, he is not smiling. He is frowning, scowling as a matter of fact. If there is one person that you don't want to see scowling, it's Bowser._

_Bowser got up from his throne and stared at Kam. I felt bad for him; he looked ready to break down crying. On the one hand, he is getting what he deserves. On the other hand, he is one of my best friends. He, Kamark and I have formed a real bond in the Society, even if Kam does have a bit of aggressive streak. Kam started rubbing his hands together, which is something that he does when he is nervous._

"_Do you have any idea the severity of the crimes that you have committed?" Bowser asked him in a low voice._

_Kam hung his head._

"_Yes, sire," he said._

"_Five first degree murder charges and the attempted murder of Kamek," Bowser said sternly. "You could receive prison for life for the first murder alone. But if you combine that with the last four murders as well the attempted murder of my magician _and my guardian_, then you sir have just become one of the most wanted criminals in the Koopa Kingdom."_

_Kam looked ashamed. I knew that if it had been anyone else, Kam would have been back talking them like there was no tomorrow. But Kam knew better than to smart mouth the king._

"_For that," said Bowser. "I have no choice but to sentence you to death."_

_I gasped along with the crowd. We all knew that this was something to be expected. But at the same, the death sentence was not handed out lightly. It was shocking to hear Bowser give it, especially to one of my best friends._

"_You can expect your execution in the morning," Bowser said. "You will stay in the castle dungeons until then."_

_I felt horror fill my stomach. I glanced at Kamark beside me. It is well known that magikoopas aren't supposed to take their glasses off under any circumstances. Despite this, Kamark was holding his glasses in his right hand and was drying his eyes with the other._

"_Singe…" he said weakly. I braced him in a hug._

"_I know bud," I said softly. "I know."_

_Kamark sniffled._

"_He didn't even get to meet the girl of his dreams," he said._

_That's when I felt angry. This couldn't happen. I wasn't going to let this happen. I marched down to Bowser's throne._

"_Excuse me your highness," I said loudly. "But I would like to make a deal."_

_Bowser raised his eyebrow._

"_And what kind of deal would that be?" he asked. I took a deep breath._

"_I want you to let Kam go," I said. "I'll take the death penalty instead."_

_The crowd gasped again and began to murmur amongst themselves. Bowser looked shocked._

"_You want to do what?" he asked. He shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't allow that to happen. He has proven himself too dangerous."_

"_Alright, then reduce his punishment to prison for life," I bargained. Bowser considered this._

"_Hmm. I suppose I could do that," he said. "But I am still not willing to let an innocent koopa die. What other ways are you willing to pay?"_

_I hesitated. I didn't have any money, and something told me that Bowser wasn't willing to accept a servant for life. I looked down at my arm, and that's when the idea came to me._

"_I'll give you my dominant arm," I said boldly. Now the crowd behind went wild. The murmuring grew into straight up chattering. Bowser held up his hand to silence them then looked down at me._

"_Very well," he said. "I'm willing to accept that offer, if that is what you want. I'll also have my son Iggy build you a robotic limb after the surgery."_

_I breathed a sigh of relief._

"_Thank you, Lord Bowser," I said respectfully, and went back into the crowd._

…..

Roy and Celia felt themselves being drawn back out of the memory. They felt a little dizzy and disoriented, but nevertheless they had a lot to say.

"Woah," said Roy. "That was crazy. I had no idea you could give arms in exchange for lives."

"Yes," said Kamark. "I still visit my brother from time to time, thanks to Singe's generosity."

Celia didn't know what to feel. She had painted a pretty unappealing picture of her dad in her mind. Now this experience was starting to put that picture into question. On top of that, there was one more scene that she wanted to see.

"Kamark," she said. "Can you show me what was going through my dad's mind right before he left my mom?"

Kamark nodded.

"Sure," he said. He chanted a different incantation and the memory sphere started to glow a bright yellow with just the slightest tinge of orange. Celia put her hand on the orb, this time fully prepared for what was about to happen.

…..

"_I'm pregnant," she says._

_Pregnant? I don't think I've heard that word before. It's not a word that is in the vernacular of the people that I spend time with._

"_What exactly does that mean?" I ask._

_Ruby's eyes look dreamy and bright. She exhales, and the breath she produces is smooth and silky._

"_It means we're going to have a baby, Singe," she responds._

_I feel like that word is a twenty ton weight that was dropped on my head. Baby? Ruby and I? Are going to have a baby? That's….wonderful? Sickening? Lovely? Terrifying? I can't even grasp the right words._

"_Isn't that great?" Ruby asks. Her eyes, her voice; it doesn't match what I'm feeling. And what am I feeling? Shock and confusion. I don't know what to feel. I hesitate before I come up with an answer._

"_Yes," I say. "It is great." I embrace Ruby in a hug. "So when is the baby supposed to get here?"_

"_Nine months from now," she says. "We have so much to do to prepare."_

_I nod and stroke her back. She seems happy about this. No, she seems ecstatic about this. Shouldn't she be feeling the slightest bit afraid? A baby is a life changing event after all. You can't just walk away from your baby, you need to constantly be attentive to it. You need to feed it, bathe it, change it, keep it out of danger every which way it turns…_

_Great, now the frightened feeling in my stomach has accentuated. I don't know if I'll be able to handle being a father._

"_Singe, are you okay?" Ruby asks me._

"_What? Oh yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I say. "I just need to get some fresh air, that's all."_

_Ruby looks a little concerned but doesn't question me any further. She nods and I make my way toward the door. Once outside, I let out a long held breath that I didn't even realize I was holding in. I hope that the atmosphere outside can help me. Being outdoors has a calming effect on me. And while it does help a little, my nerves are still rattling._

You can always leave_, I think to myself. _No one would blame you_._

_But what about Ruby? What about the baby? _

Oh, you don't have to worry about them. Ruby can find someone else to help her look after the kid. And even if she doesn't, she is a strong person. She is strong enough to look after a baby without any help_._

_But would she be able to handle me leaving her? Even if she can handle being a single mother, would she be able to handle heartbreak?_

_I shake my head and put my hand on my forehead. I can't believe I'm even considering this. I know what the right thing to do is, and that is to stay. I can't leave Ruby, I wouldn't. I love her. I love her more than life itself. She's everything to me. And I know that our baby will be everything to me too._

_So no, I won't leave her. I'd give up my arm before I let her down like that. With this in mind, I open the door and head back inside. Ruby is beaming and has her hands on her stomach, which I suppose is where the baby is._

"_Oh hey, you're back," she says cheerfully when I come in._

_I nod and put on a smile. You know what? This doesn't have to be scary. I'm having a baby with the love of my life. This is the best thing that ever happened to me. I put my hand on Ruby's stomach and caress it, hoping that I can make a good father. _

"_Have you ever heard of a koopa-human hybrid before, Singe?" Ruby asks me. My caressing of Ruby's stomach transitions into patting of Ruby's stomach._

"_No, I haven't," I say. "I guess that would make our baby one of a kind."_

_Ruby giggles softly, and as she does her tummy shakes. I can imagine the baby laughing along with her._

"_I know it's early, but I've already started thinking of a name," she said. "I really like Celia."_

_Hmm. I suppose that's good. It sounds really nice and it celebrates here human heritage._

"_That's good," I say, "for a girl. But if it's a boy, I think we should give it a koopa name."_

"_Sure, we can do that," Ruby says. "How about Nee?"_

"_Nee?" I ask. "Is that the part of the body of that you want our child to get kicked in?"_

"_Alright," Ruby says. "How about Tarlac?"_

"_Ooh, I can hear our child crying about his name through the time space continuum," I say sillily. Ruby raises her eyebrows and gives me a little smile._

"_Okay, I get the message," she says. "Oh, what about Saliday?"_

_Saliday. That's my father's name, and there is no way in World Eight I would name my child that. My father and I don't have the best relationship; I haven't even told him about Ruby yet. I decided when we first started dating that it would be best if he didn't know about her._

"_Singe?" Ruby asks._

_Then again, Ruby and I are about to have a baby. If there is any time to tell him the truth, it would be now._

"_Sweetie," I say to Ruby. "There is something that I have to do."_

"_What is it?" she asks._

"_I can't tell you," I reply. Not only haven't I not told my dad about Ruby, I have also failed to tell Ruby about my dad. "All you can know is that I have to go somewhere."_

"_Where are you going?" Ruby asks._

"_I told you, I can't tell you," I say. "But I will be back, and we can discuss the baby when I return. Is that alright with you?"_

_Ruby doesn't respond. She has a thoughtful expression, but it is mixed with a little bit of uncertainty. I absolutely hate that, but there is nothing I can do to fix it. At least, nothing I can do that wouldn't reveal things that I want to keep secret._

"_Alright," she says after a moment. _

_I smile, give her a kiss on the cheek, and head out the door. I don't know what I am going to say to my dad. The news that you are going to have a baby is supposed to be pleasant. If he hears that I am having a baby with a human, however, his reaction is going to be less than positive. Maybe with luck I can assuage any disappointment or anger he_ _has toward me. _

….

Celia came out of the memory feeling shocked. She looks to Roy and Kamark, her mouth hanging open slightly.

"He wanted to stay," she said quietly. Roy's jaw dropped while Kamark nodded.

"He did?" Roy asked. "What made him leave?"

"Well, near the end of the memory he went to see his dad," she said. She remembered what Saliday had said. "And Saliday said they had a big fight when he told him and he said somethings that he regrets."

"Okay, so do you want to see the fight?" Roy asked. Celia shook her head.

"No," she said. "I think I need to hear what happened from him." She turned to Kamark. "Can you find out where he is?"

Kamark smiled and activated the memory sphere for the last time. He put his hands on it and came back around after a minute.

"Okay, I know where he is," he said. "But I can't take you there on my broom. I need to teleport you there."

Celia nodded, kind of wishing that Kamark had suggested teleportation as an option for getting to the mountain instead of flying.

"Alright," she said.

Kamark smiled, said the incantation, and waved his wand. Just like that, Roy and Celia teleported away.


	21. Chapter 21 The Forest Of Illusion

Chapter 21 The Forest of Illusion

Roy's body couldn't handle the rush or the odd feeling that being magically teleported gave him. So, by the time that he and Celia landed on the ground, he was unconscious. When Celia saw Roy lying on the mossy, damp floor, as if he were nothing more than a corpse, she began to worry. She shook him, hoping that he would respond. When he didn't, her mind became filled with panic. What could she do? Thankfully, Roy eventually came around.

"Oh man," said Roy. He could feel his heart beating in his head, and his entire body ached. He felt similar to how one feels the day after they have an intense workout; every muscle feels like it is straining itself to take him one more step. He sat up and was hit by a horrible wave of dizziness.

"How do you feel, Roy?" Celia questioned him gently.

"Awful," Roy responded. "My muscles are practically screaming and I feel like I have vertigo."

Celia's face morphed into an expression of concern and empathy.

"Have you ever had vertigo before?" she asked.

"Well, no," said Roy. "But I imagine that it feels something like this."

To make sure that Roy felt like he was at one hundred percent, Celia suggested that they wait around for a few minutes before they start walking. Celia expected that Roy's headache, dizziness, and aches would go away lickity split, but they were a bunch of stubborn donkeys. The two of them ended up waiting for about half an hour before they could move, and in that time Celia had to comfort Roy as he moaned and groaned.

As Celia patted Roy on the back, she got to thinking. She was just minutes away from meeting Singe. Celia wasn't one to get butterflies in her stomach, but now it felt like there was a swarm of them flitting around. Why was that the case? She didn't feel this way when she was going to meet Bowser. Was it just because of the mystery surrounding why he left? Or was it because she didn't know how she was going to react towards him? Before, she had a definite plan of what she wanted to do. Now she wasn't so sure.

When Roy eventually started to feel better, they both got up and started to walk through the forest. It was dark and spooky. The trees seemed to be grinning sinisterly down at them. Roy and Celia could feel chills race up and down their spines as they glanced up at them. The bushes that were at the bases of the trees weren't much better. Roy and Celia weren't sure if it was the lighting of the forest that gave this effect, but the bushes' leaves looked black as poison. They also had prickly branches that seemed to lunge greedily for Celia's hoodie. If Roy and Celia listened very carefully, they could also hear howling off in the distance.

"You know," said Celia as she turned to Roy. "I've always been scared of boos and ghosts."

Roy hesitated a little before he answered.

"Me too," he said. "But I don't see why you bring that up."

"Because! We're in the Forest of Illusion!" Celia said. "You didn't realize that yet?"

Roy felt embarrassed. Of course, the Forest of Illusion. Why didn't he remember this place? Bowser had put him in charge of overseeing it when they had captured Princess Peach in Dinosaur Land.

"I've heard that this place is very tricky to navigate," Celia said. "So I have a feeling that we're gonna be here for a while."

Roy nodded. Maybe that was part of the reason why he didn't remember this place so well; it was a long time ago and he didn't have to worry about the navigation aspect as much, if at all. Bowser had taken him to the fortress just outside of the forest in his airship. He started to feel a little better about himself.

Roy and Celia walked in silence for a little bit. The silence would have felt fine if it wasn't for the fact that the two of them were walking through the Forest of Illusion. With that factor in play, the two of them began to feel a little on edge.

"So, Kamark was a nice guy and all that. Don't you think that he was a nice guy who did nice things for us?" Roy asked with an awkward inflection, hoping to break the uncomfortable silence. Celia chuckled.

"Yeah, I do," said Celia, grateful that she had an excuse to talk. "In fact, the whole Society was nice."

"They certainly treated you with dignitary, that's for sure," said Roy.

"It's 'dignity' Roy," Celia corrected him. "And they most certainly did. I don't think I've ever met anybody who treated me that kindly. Aside from you and the other Koopalings, of course."

"Well, of course, we would treat you with respect," said Roy. "We are very respectful people."

Celia burst out laughing. Roy wasn't sure why.

"I'll tell you," said Celia once she calmed down. "You and the Society were definitely a step up from my grandma."

"I can see why," said Roy. His face fell. "Do you think that your dad will be the same way?"

"I don't think so," Celia said. "He had no problem with being with my mom, after all." Her heart sank. "Then again, he did leave us, so I guess anything is possible."

Roy nodded in agreement.

"Totally," he said. "I mean, you said so yourself: what jerk leaves the girl he loves without any second thoughts?"

Celia felt bad. Not for herself though, for Singe. Because according to the memory sphere, he did have second thoughts. In fact, he had pushed all thought of leaving out of his head.

"You still want me to punch the living daylights out of him, right?" Roy asked.

Celia sighed.

"I...I'm not sure."

Roy gave her a funny look.

"What do you mean you're not sure?" he asked. "If we don't at least rough him up a bit, won't this whole adventure have been for nothing?"

Celia hesitated a little before responding.

"It's not that I'm not still angry about him abandoning me," she said. "In fact, I don't think I'll ever not be angry with him for that. But the more I learned about him, the more I found myself...I don't know."

Roy didn't entirely know what she meant. Did she mean relating to him? Sympathizing for him? Feeling sorry for him? He couldn't remember learning a lot about him aside from the fact that he lost his arm, and because of that couldn't lift weights. Which, Roy supposed, would be cause for sympathy. Roy knew that if the same thing happened to him, then he wouldn't be able to get up in the morning.

"Maybe all that needs to happen is for me to find out what happened during the fight," Celia said.

Roy was about to answer when a blue blaze ghost jumped out from behind a tree. It stuck out its tongue at Roy and Celia and flew toward them. Frightened out of their wits, both of them ran. They weren't fast enough to outrun the ghost though, as it grabbed Celia by the hood and yanked her up into the trees. Roy watched from below as Celia struggled and wriggled, desperately trying to get free. Spotting a rock on the ground, he picked it up and threw it at the ghost. It made a direct hit, and the ghost vanished. This, consequently, sent Celia plummeting to the ground screaming.

"CELIA!" Roy yelled. He ran over and saw her land in a pit. He looked in, trying to see if he could spot her, but all he saw was inky blackness.

"Celia, are you okay?" Roy asked. No answer.

"Celia?" Roy said again. Still no answer.

Roy began to panic. He needed some assistance.

"Don't worry, Celia, I'll find help," he called into the pit. He turned back toward the forest and began calling out for someone. Surely somebody had to live here, right?

Suddenly, Roy spotted an old house in a clearing. It had a faded purple roof and shattered windows. Roy, hoping that the house wasn't haunted, went up an opened the door. It creaked and as he opened it ever so gently, and the inside smelled of dust. There was glass all over the floor, cobwebs decorating the ceiling, and an old piano resting near a bookshelf.

"Hello?" Roy called out nervously as he entered.

"Who's there?" a voice responded.

Roy glanced around the room, trying to see where the voice had come from. When he saw no one, he started tiptoeing toward the piano. That was when he felt a hand land on his shoulder.

"I wouldn't get too close to that if I were you," said the voice. "That piano is haunted."

Roy turned around and gasped. It was Singe.


	22. Chapter 22 Singe

Chapter 22 Singe

Roy stared at Singe. He looked exactly the same as he had in the photo. He had a slender build and skinny legs, which made up most of his height. His eyes were large, oval-shaped, and had fiery red irises that sparkled, even in the dim lighting. His hair was spiky, and like Celia's, it was red at the roots, yellow at the tips, and orange in the areas in between. Roy glanced at Singe's right and could see his mechanical arm hanging at his side, lustrous and shiny.

"Singe Marksmite?" Roy asked. Singe smiled.

"That's my name," he responded.

"Are...are you a ghost?" Roy asked nervously. Singe let out a laugh.

"No, but I'm pretty close," he said. His face became more serious. "You're Roy Koopa. What are you doing here? How did you find this place?"

Roy felt a little scared. Singe looked like he meant business. Would Singe want to fight him?

"I...I came here with your daughter," Roy stuttered.

Singe's expression softened from serious aggression to surprise.

"My...my daughter?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Roy. "Her name is Celia Patch. Her mother is Ruby Patch. She looks like a human except she has yellow skin and red eyes and hair that looks like fire, especially when the window is blowing it."

Singe looked concerned.

"Well, where is she?" he asked.

"That's why I'm here," Roy said, "she needs help! She got dropped by a ghost and fell into a pit."

Now Singe became alert. He turned around and headed into the other room. Roy felt confused. Wasn't the door that leads to the outside in the other direction? Suddenly, Singe came back out into the main room with a rope in hand.

"Well, then let's go get her," he said boldly.

Roy breathed a sigh of relief and lead Singe to the pit. Singe looked down into it and sighed.

"This hole is at least fifteen feet deep," he said. "I suspect that she broke a few of her bones."

Roy felt worry ensnare him. Broken bones? What if she was paralyzed forever? Or...what if she was dead?

"I'll go down there," Singe said as he tied the rope around his waist. "You stay up here and hold onto the rope. When I've got her, you'll feel a tug. That is when you're supposed to pull us up, got it?"

Roy nodded as Singe dove into the hole. Roy held onto the rope and began to worry a little bit. What if there was a monster down there? What if the magmaargh that lived in the toilet found a way to travel into the tunnel and gobble Celia up?

As Roy's worries started to reach paranoia levels, he felt the tug. Relieved, he pulled Singe and the unconscious Celia back up. Celia's clothes were covered in dirt, and she had a nasty gash in her head.

"It's just as I suspected," said Singe. "Her leg is broken. It's also possible that she has a concussion. We'll have to put her in bed once we get back to the house."

Roy nodded, and together the two of them walked back to Singe's house. Roy had never felt so relieved in all of his life, and he had a hunch that Singe felt the same way.

Once in Singe's bedroom, Singe laid Celia down in his bed. He turned to Roy, a questioning and curious look on his face.

"So, how exactly did you get here?" he asked.

"Oh, it's a long story," Roy said with a chuckle.

"Okay," said Singe. "I've got all the time in the world."

Roy looked at Singe for awhile and let out a breath. With that, he launched into the full story. He explained how he had first come across Celia, how she had thought Bowser was her dad, how they went to the Beanbean Kingdom, how they had met Celia's grandparents and the Starbite Society, how Kamark had shown them the memory sphere, and how they were teleported to the Forest of Illusion. Once he was done, Roy's throat was dry and his voice was scratchy from talking so much. Singe chuckled.

"Wow," he said.

"Yeah," Roy said. "Do you have any water?'

Singe smiled and gave Roy the glass of water that was on his nightstand. Once he gulped down the pristine, crisp liquid, Singe spoke up.

"So you came all this way to beat me up?" he said with a slight smile and his hand on his hip. Roy nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "At least, that was Celia's original plan."

Singe's face fell a little bit.

"I can't say that I blame her," he said.

Roy felt a pang of sympathy. Despite the fact that Singe had abandoned his daughter, he didn't seem like that bad of a guy. He had even helped to save her. Then again, there was a possibility that he did that because he felt like he owed her or something. Roy knew that if he abandoned his daughter and she turned up in his life all of a sudden, he would feel like owed her the world.

Roy heard Celia moan. He turned around and saw that she was starting to open her eyes.

"Roy?" she asked.

"Celia!" Roy cried joyously. "Thank goodness. I was so worried."

"Roy," she said softly. "What happened? Where are we? Why does my leg hurt?"

"You fell into a hole," said Roy. "Thankfully, I found somebody to rescue you."

"Really? Who?" Celia asked, slightly disoriented.

Singe stepped forward and smiled slightly at his daughter. At the sight of him, Celia's eyes grew wide.

"Singe."

"Celia."

Celia stared at her father. Singe stared back at her. Roy was surprised to see that she didn't have any malice or aggression in her eyes or face. She looked kind of placid, calm, almost somber. This was a stark contrast to how she had looked when she had interacted with her mother.

"So Ruby named you Celia," Singe said. He chuckled a little bit. "I'm not surprised. She was a big fan of that name."

"I know," said Celia softly. Roy was starting to feel a little intimidated by her serenity, even more intimidated than he would've been if she was angry. At least he would have expected anger, at least he would have been used to it.

"You look beautiful," Singe said. Celia gave a tiny scoff.

"Thanks," she said without smiling. "Apparently living in the sewer has that effect on people."

"Yeah, Roy told me about your place of residence," Singe replied. "You could have told me you lived in an apartment in New Donk City and I would have believed you. You certainly don't smell like a sewer rat."

"That's because I don't believe that showering with sewer water is a practice that anyone should take part in," Celia said.

Roy looked at Celia and it finally occurred to him that this was the first conversation she ever had with her dad. Roy began to wonder what would happen if he met his real dad. He and his siblings hatched from eggs in Bowser's Castle, so they never got a chance to meet their real parents. They had no idea who they were or even if they were alive.

Singe observed his daughter's behavior. He noticed that despite the fact that she was telling jokes, she wasn't smiling at all. She wasn't even using a joking tone, just a calm one. Singe began to grow a little worried. Based on what Roy told him, Celia had quite a temper. Should he be concerned?

"Why do you choose to live in the sewer?" Singe asked, even though he already knew the answer to the question. "It certainly is an odd place to call home."

"The same can be said about this place," Celia retorted. "Why did you want to live in the Forest of Illusion? It doesn't seem like there are very many people to talk to."

Singe chuckled.

"That was kind of the point," he said. Then he sighed. "Like you, I have decided to turn myself into a recluse. There are some very harsh realities that I am trying to run from."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Roy interjected. Singe shook his head.

"One of the reasons why you guys wanted to come here was to find out why I left," he said. "And I have no right to deny you that information. Roy, you're the reason why Celia is here and are probably just as curious as she is. You should hear this as well."

Roy nodded and sat in a chair by one of the dirty, shattered windows. Singe cleared his throat.

"Alright," Singe said. "As you both have been told, I had a fight with my parents when I had told them that Ruby was pregnant. I remember it so well. I hadn't been on speaking terms with either of them at that point, but they greeted me warmly. Dad patted me on the back, Mom gave me a hug, and both of them tried to stuff chocolate chip cookies down my gullet. I was always pretty skinny." Singe laughed, but it sounded hollow. "I suppose in hindsight the reason why they acted the way they did was because they were relieved to see me. But when I broke the news to them, they said some pretty nasty things. I'm going to clean up their dialogue a little bit because...they got pretty vulgar. Mom basically said, 'What is the matter with you? Do we have to lock you up in a mental institution or a prison or something along those lines? How could you bring yourself to..'" Singe cleared his throat… "'go out with a human girl?"

"What did Saliday say?" asked Celia, cringing a little as she imagined Mavery delivering the uncensored version of that speech to Singe.

"He more or less reiterated what Mom said," Singe said. "He said that he always knew I was a human lover, but this was taking it one step too far. But he also said something that has made me hesitant to return to you and Ruby. He said...that if I ever laid foot on 'that human's' property again, he would see to it that me, Ruby, and you Celia would all be put under a curse."

There was a moment of silence. Roy and Celia shared a look. Celia's calm mask had been torn down and was now replaced by a genuine look of hurt and sympathy. Roy imagined that he looked the same way.

"What kind of curse?" Roy asked.

"Oh, I don't know," Singe said. "But as you can imagine, I got scared. I ran away, and that's when I found the Starbite Society. I made real friends, and I was happy. I forgot that I had a girlfriend with my child waiting for me back in the Mushroom Kingdom. When I finally remembered, you wouldn't believe how ashamed of myself I felt. That's why I left the Society; I didn't think I deserved to be happy if I left my daughter without a father."

Singe started to rub his face, possibly to hide the fact that there were tears forming in his eyes. Celia could feel tears forming in her eyes, too.

"You could've come back," she said. "Why didn't you?"

"Because I was a coward," Singe said. "I had the threat of what my father was going to do over my head. On top of that, I was so ashamed of myself that I thought you would be too."

Celia sat up in bed.

"You thought _I_ would be ashamed of you?" Celia asked. "Singe, you were willing to give up your arm...no, you were willing to give up your _life_ for somebody else. Why would I be ashamed of my dad if he was willing to do that?"

Singe glanced down at his robotic arm.

"This really wasn't that big a loss, when you think about it," he said quietly. "Sure, the robotic arm isn't as strong as my real arm was. But I can still get through life pretty well with this thing."

"Still," Celia said. "I don't think I would have the courage to do what you did, even if it was my best friend's life on the line."

Celia reached out and put her hand on Singe's knee. Singe looked a little surprised at first, then held Celia's hand in his.

"I am so sorry," he whispered. "I owe you an infinite number of apologies."

Celia smiled.

"You know what?" she said. "I think we can just worry about one right now."

Roy felt a warm feeling light up his heart. So Celia forgave Singe. That was good. No, that was awesome! Now he didn't have to beat him up. He had been thinking about it, and he didn't know if he would be comfortable beating up a guy who had only one arm.

"If you want me to be," Singe said, "I would love to be a part of your life."

"Sure you can," Celia said. "I think that'll be good for you. It will give you a chance to get away from this old, abandoned shack."

Singe smiled. He looked ready to hug Celia, but he also looked hesitant to. Roy could sense a little inkling of awkwardness between the two of them. He could understand why it was there, but he also didn't appreciate it. Singe didn't like it either, so he decided to remove himself from the room.

"I'll...I'll go get you guys something to eat," he said as he headed for the door. Roy watched his retreating back and when the door slammed, he turned back to Celia.

"So," he said. "Your dad…"

Celia's head bobbed up and down.

"Do you...like him?" Roy asked uneasily.

"Yeah, I do," Celia responded. "I mean, he seems nice enough."

Roy didn't respond to this. He just stared at Celia and felt some sort of longing developing in his mind.

"What is it?" Celia asked, noticing Roy's far off look.

"Nothing," said Roy. "It's just...I can't believe that we've finally come to this point."

Celia nodded slightly.

"Me neither," she agreed. "I've lived my whole life without the involvement of my dad. Having him around now will be...different."

Roy couldn't ignore his desire any longer. He had to ask Celia the question that was on the back of his mind. Courteously, he sat down on the bed and held her hand.

"Celia," he said sweetly. "You and I have gone through ghosts, skeleton monkeys, memories, and all sorts of other stuff that would take me a whole book to describe. And by the way, I would never write a book about this; I absolutely can not stand reading."

Celia snorted back a laugh. Roy smiled, happy to hear her express joy.

"Anyway, the thing that I want to ask you is: do you want to get together now?"

Celia felt her heart stop. She felt like she wasn't breathing. She had been hoping that Roy would ask her that question. She liked him, she really, really liked him. However, she knew what the answer had to be:

"No."

Roy's face fell and his tail drooped as it sunk into him that Celia had rejected him. How could she say no after everything that they've been through? While he had been rejected before, it had never hurt this much. He felt like Celia had stabbed him in the heart.

"Oh," he said dejectedly. "Okay then." He started to head for the door, but before he exited Celia spoke up again.

"At least not at the moment," she said. "Look, Roy, I know that you like me, and I like you too. But...I just met my dad. I have a whole lifetime of catching up with him that I need to get started on."

Roy turned around.

"Also, you've seen how crazy my life is," Celia continued. "Do you really want to get involved in that?"

"Sure I do," Roy protested. "I can do crazy. I love crazy. I live with a brother who is half crazy."

Celia smiled.

"Okay then," she said. "If you say that you can handle it, then I have no reason not to trust you." Her face grew more serious. "But I don't think that I'll be able to handle it. I need to work some things out before I can think about dating. And the first thing that is on my list of priorities is Singe."

Roy stood there for a moment. What she was saying made sense. It still made him feel awful, but at least it made sense. At least she wasn't saying no because she thought he was a wimp or too desperate or not the right guy for her. In addition to that, she didn't say that she never wanted to get together, Roy realized. She just said that she didn't want to get together right now. This made Roy perk up a little bit. Maybe they would get together sometime in the future!

Singe came back into the room with a bowl full of berries and an awkward smile.

"I...I don't have a lot of options for food in this place," he said. "So I'm sorry if you guys aren't the biggest fan of berries."

"It's okay," said Celia. "At least you're not feeding me power-ups."

Singe laughed a little and sat down on the edge of the bed. Roy smiled at this site. There was Celia with the dad she deserved. Seeing her with him made him feel extra warm inside. However, he knew that he couldn't stay with them. Celia said that she wanted some time to connect with Singe. He figured that it would be best if she got the chance to do that without him around.

"You know what guys?" he said. "I'd better be heading out."

Singe and Celia glanced up.

"You're leaving already?" Singe asked.

"Yeah," said Roy. "I don't want to spend too much time away from home. My fam could get worried, you know?"

Celia looked a little surprised. Then she gave Roy a look of understanding.

"Go," she said gently.

Roy smiled and took a few berries out of the bowl for the road.

"Okay," he said. "See you later, Celia."

"See you later, Roy," Celia responded quietly.

**Author's Note: Well, there you have it folks; my first fanfiction is complete! It honestly feels good to say that I've officially finished a story. Thank you so much to you guys for reading. Special shoutouts to TheGhostlyRobot and KoopaKix for favoriting and to s3731997 for following. Please leave a review if you haven't already; I would love to hear what you guys think of this story.**


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